Mark Isherwood
North Wales Assembly Member, Mark Isherwood has made fresh calls for an independent review into Welsh hospitals with high death rates, which includes all three General Hospitals in North Wales.
Mr Isherwood first urged the Welsh Government to commission an independent investigation into Welsh hospitals with high death rates in November.
Speaking in yesterday afternoon’s Welsh Conservative debate calling upon the Welsh Government to urgently commission an independent review into Welsh hospitals with mortality rates which are higher than average, Mr Isherwood will note the concerns expressed by Professor Sir Bruce Keogh regarding waiting times and mortality rates within the Welsh NHS.
He said:
“In February 2013, the Prime Minister announced that he had asked Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, Medical Director of NHS England, to review the quality of care and treatment provided by those NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts with high mortality indicators.
“Eleven NHS Trusts in England were put into special measures after Professor Keogh’s independent investigation found a catalogue of failures in hospitals with high death rates across England.
“Professor Keogh was questioned by the House of Commons Health Committee in January on the need for an NHS inquiry in Wales. He replied: ‘Any review process of organisations that are struggling that offers a significant chance of improvement is worth pursuing’.
“Last month, an email from Professor Keogh to Chris Jones, Medical Director of NHS Wales, was published following a Freedom of Information request.
“This stated ‘there are six hospitals in Wales with a persistently high mortality which warrant investigating’, that waiting time data in Wales was ‘worrying’ and that it would be sensible to investigate, as they may underpin mortality concerns.
“According to the latest data, four out of six Health Boards in Wales have a higher than average mortality rate, calculated as the ratio of the actual number of deaths in a hospital, compared to the expected number of deaths. This includes 8 hospitals, including all three General Hospitals in North Wales.
“It is therefore alarming that Labour Welsh Health Minister Mark Drakeford dismissed calls for an inquiry into death rates at Welsh hospitals as “politically motivated” after Professor Keogh’s email came to light.
“After all, it was Labour MP Ann Clwyd who had contacted Sir Bruce regarding this. It was she who expressed her hope that this data would “act as a warning signal to the Welsh government to check on the quality of care that is being offered to patients in these hospitals.
“It would be dereliction of duty if Professor Keogh’s recommendation of ‘investigation’ into mortality rates is ignored by this Labour Government. As I said in the Assembly last November, there must be an independent review into Welsh hospitals with high death rates.”
