Our Mortality outliers programme looks at patterns of death rates within NHS Trusts.
The programme focuses on:
- death rates in NHS trusts.
- changes and trends over time.
- the deaths of people with specific diseases and those undergoing surgery.
We calculate trends using a technique called statistical process control (SPC).
Receiving alerts
We receive an alert if the number of deaths is much higher than normal.
Alerts come from a number of different sources, including:
- our own data analysis.
- the Dr Foster Unit at Imperial College.
- the care provider.
Reasons for high death rates
There are many reasons why death rates are high at an organisation. It doesn’t always mean that there is a problem with the quality of care provided.
It could mean:
- the trust is treating more complicated cases.
- there are problems with data quality and coding, meaning that the patients who died were incorrectly assigned to a specific diagnosis.
- poor quality of care.
What happens next?
If we contact a trust about an alert, they are expected to:
- respond quickly.
- understand the reason for the alert.
- act appropriately.
