Number of avoidable deaths reduced

Hospital bosses have praised staff for improvements in reducing the number of avoidable deaths in Herefordshire.

The Wye Valley NHS Trust’s performance make it the most improved acute Trust in the NHS in last two years in terms of mortality rates.

They have reduced the Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratio from 117.5 in March 2018 to 98 during the last financial year.

HSMR is the measure for in-hospital mortality — his measures whether the number of deaths in hospital is higher or lower than health bosses would expect.

The best improvements have been in reducing deaths from acute bronchitis, gastrointestinal haemorrhage, septicaemia.

The Wye Valley NHS Trust is the 43rd best performing out of a total of 131 NHS Trusts across the country.

Chief executive Glen Burley, speaking at the trust’s annual general meeting, said: “These things don’t happen by accident, and I want to pay tribute to the executive team at the trust which has led by example and inspired staff.

“We were an outlier two or three years ago,” he said.

“We had a higher mortality rate than you would have expected based on the statistical modelling.

“But now we are well within the normal. In fact we are just below the expected level of mortality for our organisation.

“That’s been delivered through a whole range of improvements, lots of pathway improvements that the clinical teams have put in place.

“It’s a great testament to the staff that we’ve been able to demonstrate group leading performance in Wye Valley Trust".