NEW ‘death rate’ figures for the Royal Blackburn and Burnley General Hospitals suggest two fewer patients are dying unnecessarily each week.

The mortality rate at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust (ELHT) has moved into ‘expected levels’, after a damning inspection report last year sparked major improvements.

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The trust had previously been cited as a repeated ‘outlier’ on the Summary Hospital-level Mortality Indicator (SHMI).

Although full data was not available, ELHT said there were about 100 fewer deaths in 2014 compared to 2013, which means the trust has progressed against its pledge to ‘save 150 lives’ a year.

Dr Ian Stanley, medical director, said: “We continue to reduce mortality at the trust’s five hospitals, which now see two deaths fewer per week – about 100 per year – despite an increasing number of patients and more urgent cases.

“We have a clear strategy to further reduce the number of people who pass away under our care and are working hard to achieve our quality pledge of saving 150 extra lives per year.”

He said all patient deaths were now formally reviewed by a senior clinician, and discussed at weekly ward meetings, while care is reviewed when a patient dies to see if anything could have been done differently.

The trust has also recruited hundreds of extra nurses and healthcare assistants, after inspectors highlighted staffing shortages in many areas in 2013.

For the six months to June 2014, the trust’s internal data showed there were 1,273 deaths in hospital or within 30 days, against the expected number of 1,231, which is a difference of 42.

The figures also include deaths at the community hospitals in Clitheroe, Accrington and Pendle.

The number of deaths under the Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratios is also said to be within expected levels.