Valerie seeks answers from Chief Executive over higher than expected Manor Hospital death rates

Valerie has written to Mr Richard Kirby, Chief Executive of the Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, which is responsible for Walsall Manor Hospital, to ask him to outline the steps he will be taking after the Dr Foster Hospital Guide 2012 highlighted that the Manor Hospital was one of 12 in England to have had more deaths than expected on two out of four mortality measures used.

Valerie said:

“It is worrying that Dr Foster have found that more people than expected died at Walsall Manor in 2011-12. Using both the Summary Hospital-Level Mortality Indicator, which measures the number of deaths following hospital treatment, and the Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratio, which measures deaths while in hospital care, Walsall Manor is shown to have a higher than expected death rate which cannot be explained by chance variations alone.”

“ My constituents should have confidence that when they go into Hospital they have a better chance of survival. Survival rates should be surpassing expectations. These figures show that Walsall Manor has fallen short and the Hospital must take urgent action to address the causes.”

“I need assurances that staffing shortages are not having an impact on care at the Hospital. I have written to Mr Kirby asking him to let me know how many clinical staff the hospital needs to recruit and what the causes of the higher than expected death rates were. I have also asked Mr Kirby to explain why the hospital was found to have not performed as well as other hospitals on three indicators: 1. procedures with limited clinical effectiveness,2 the number of long-stay elderly patients and 3 the rates of outpatient follow-up. It is vital that the Hospital properly addresses all the issues arising from the Dr Foster report as a matter of urgency.”

The Dr Foster Hospital Guide 2011-12 can be downloaded here:
http://download.drfosterintelligence.co.uk/Hospital_Guide_2012.pdf

Figures from Dr Foster relating specifically to Walsall Manor Hospital can be found here:
http://myhospitalguide.drfosterhealth.co.uk/