Mortality outliers
Mortality outliers look at how many patients within an organisation have died after being admitted to hospital for a particular condition or procedure.
If the number of deaths is much higher than expected we receive an alert. Alerts come from a number of different sources, such as from:
- our own data analysis or other CQC intelligence
- the Dr Foster Unit at Imperial College
- the care provider itself
The alerts prompt us to follow up concerns and we have explicit powers to do so.
An alert does not prove that there is a problem with the quality of care at a trust. There are many reasons why mortality rates may be high.
It is important that trusts:
- respond quickly to alerts
- understand why an alert has happened
- act appropriately
We pursue mortality outlier alerts until we are satisfied with the action taken by the trust.
If we are not satisfied, or more evidence emerges about poor quality of care at the trust, we will escalate the case.
Further information
In March 2009 the Healthcare Commission, one of our predecessor organisations, published a report which follows up statistical outliers and reports on the programme's first year of operation:
Following up on mortality outliers report (PDF, 155KB, opens in new window)
