Over the year, I have regularly advocated the recording of hospital death rates. Indeed, my MP Andrew Mitchell MP wrote to Ben Bradshaw requesting that death rates be recorded for all wards. The Government though has opted to record " hospital death rates". This persuades the public that this is enough. Of course, those of us who know about statistics also know that without Ward death rates, there is no way of detecting isolated pockets of poor care. Ben Bradshaw does not feel this is required.
So by the time high death rates on a ward is standardized and compared nationally, it would be impossible to detect the location of poor care. If you can't detect it, you can't correct it quickly. If you can't correct it, you end up with a scenario like Mid Staffordshire where the death rate has to be really high in order for it to be detected. Nevertheless, I still find it interesting that Mid Staffordshire has a comparatively lower compensation bill than North Staffordshire.
So by the time high death rates on a ward is standardized and compared nationally, it would be impossible to detect the location of poor care. If you can't detect it, you can't correct it quickly. If you can't correct it, you end up with a scenario like Mid Staffordshire where the death rate has to be really high in order for it to be detected. Nevertheless, I still find it interesting that Mid Staffordshire has a comparatively lower compensation bill than North Staffordshire.
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