MP calls for government to intervene following damning report on hospital trust
Local MP Tim Farron has called on the government to step in and act as a report from Dr Foster intelligence has said that the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Trust (UHMBT) has the worst death rate in the country.
2011 Hospital Guide, the 10th edition of the guide, revealing for the first time levels of medical staffing in hospital at nights and weekends. The Dr Foster report says mortality levels at the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay Trust - that runs theWestmorland GeneralHospital, Furness General and the Royal Lancaster Infirmary - are far higher than they should be.
If a Trust has a rating of exactly 100, then it means the number of patients who have died would be the expected number. The Morecambe Bay Trust figure is 124 - showing mortality to be 24% higher than it should be.
The figure for deaths within 30 days of treatment is 114 - again among the worst inEngland. At weekends, the figure is more than 140 - again a far higher figure than the national average.
Commenting, Tim said: "Like many residents I am concerned at another damning report on our local hospitals trust. The Dr Foster report should be a major wake up call for hospital bosses - things much change and must change now. Appalling decisions taken over the last four or five years have turned a good hospital trust in to one that is now on the critical list - not least the decision to close our heart unit."
"I welcome the steps the trust has taken recently but now it really must get to grips with this issue and conduct a root and branch review. Constituents are telling me that they are travelling to Manchester for routine medical procedures rather than having them locally. This worries me greatly - I know that doctors and nurses at our local hospitals are hardworking and committed professionals who are doing amazing work in difficult circumstances.
"As a family, we use our local hospital so we know that the care on offer is excellent from wonderful staff but we need the hospital management to start listening to clinicians and to fix the causes of these tragic failures ."