Hospital near top of league table

IPSWICH Hospital has been praised for its low mortality rates today after coming fifth best in a national league table.

IPSWICH Hospital has been praised for its low mortality rates today after coming fifth best in a national league table.

The statistics, released by national organisation Dr Forster Intelligence, show the Heath Road hospital is among the best in the country at keeping people safe.

However the hospital has pledged to do even more to improve patient safety, as figures show that in the developed world one in ten people who go into hospital will suffer unintended harm as a result of their stay and one in ten of those people will die.

Andrew Reed, the hospital's chief executive, said: “It is fantastic that throughout all the trials and tribulations and troubles we have been through over the past few years our clinical care has not been compromised.

“This is a testament to the clinical teams we have. And if we look at some specialist areas there are some figures where we are even better than fifth, such as heart attack figures.”

Mr Reed said one of the reasons behind the high standards was an emphasis on clinical governance which had been developed at the hospital since the death of baby Luke Day, the youngest victim of hospital superbug MRSA.

But he said the hospital was still continuing to focus on improving patient safety, and added: “What this report has done is raise the profile nationally of mortality rates and everybody is now looking at ways to improve so if we don't do that we will fall backwards.

“We have placed a huge emphasis on improving patient safety. The NHS used to accept major incidents as almost an occupational hazard, but that has changed and we now think there should be no avoidable harm at all.”

Have you been impressed by your care at Ipswich Hospital? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich IP4 1AN or e-mail eveningstarletters@eveningstar.co.uk.