Three regional NHS trusts have death level above expectations

The Scarborough and North East Yorkshire, Hull and East Yorkshire, and Northern Lincolnshire and Goole trusts are among only nine in England singled out in latest figures analysing deaths in hospital and within 30 days of discharge over the year to September.

It is the first time the Scarborough trust has been found to have higher deaths than expected using a new measure which found there were 169 more deaths of patients among 1,175 fatalities over the period.

The Hull trust had 3,321 deaths in the 12 months, 466 more than expected, and the Northern Lincolnshire trust had 316 excess deaths in its total of 2,285, according to measures published by the NHS Information Centre which have previously raised concerns about the two organisations.

Fourteen NHS trusts across the country were ranked as having significantly fewer deaths.

None were in the region although the Airedale, Bradford, Harrogate, Leeds, Sheffield and South Tees trusts had fewer deaths than expected.

Karl Mainprize, interim medical director at the Scarborough trust, which will merge with the York NHS trust in July, said: “Understanding and tackling patient safety continues to be our top priority.

“Since the time period reflected in this data, we have been working with staff and patients on some extremely robust initiatives.”

The Department of Health has ordered major efforts to improve standards in hospitals which are likely to mean more senior doctors on duty overnight and at weekends.

Further changes mean patients requiring specialist care are being sent to regional centres for expert treatment.