Russells Hall Hospital death rates higher at weekends, figures show
Death rates were higher for patients going to Russells Hall Hospital at weekends last year, according to new figures.
The figures showed that more people died if they were admitted on Saturdays and Sundays rather than on weekdays during nine months of 2016.
Hospital bosses said more ‘acutely unwell’ patients being admitted at weekends and a difference in the provision of primary care services were possible reasons for the figures. But they said they did not reflect the actual number of deaths.
The hospital’s standardised mortality ratio (HSMR), which tracks death rates, with a score of 100 the NHS average, reached as high as 128.9 at weekends in September 2016, compared to a weekday score for the same month of 92.3.
Similarly, in July 2016 the weekend score was 125.8 against a weekday rate of 94.6.
There were only three months during the year when the weekend mortality score was lower.
Diane Wake, chief executive of the Dudley Group NHS Trust, which runs Russells Hall, said the HSMR ‘did not reflect actual numbers of deaths’ and was ‘not designed or intended to identify this’.
She said: “The trust’s HSMR is well within the expected range and our SHMI (summary hospital-level mortality indicator) is, in fact, better than average. We recognise that HSMR is well known nationally for appearing to show a difference between weekday and weekend admissions.
“There are a number of possible explanations for why this is the case, including the larger proportion of acutely unwell patients admitted at weekends, the methodology of how the data is calculated and the difference in provision of primary care services during the weekend.”
Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has claimed more people die in hospitals at weekends due to fewer staff on duty as part of his push for seven-day hospital services, although critics have argued mortality rates work out as higher at weekends because fewer people are admitted.
Senior Dudley councillor Paul Brothwood said the figures were ‘concerning’ and that he believed under-funding of the NHS and an over-reliance on agency staff could be to blame.
He said: “You would expect the level of care to be exactly the same if you turn up at 9am on a Monday morning or 10 at night on a Saturday. You can’t plan for these things.”
The Dudley UKIP group leader added: “We have got a massive shortage of nurses and doctors and massive under-funding of the NHS for generations.”
