‘Avoidable’ deaths at Lanarkshire’s hospitals drop by a quarter

NHS Lanarkshire has hailed “significant reductions” in Hospital Standardised Mortality Ratios (HSMR) in the county’s three acute hospitals.

HSMR has been reported to all Scottish hospitals participating in the Scottish Patient Safety Programme (SPSP) since 2009.

It measures incidences of ‘avoidable’ mortality in acute hospitals and is used by Heathcare Improvement Scotland to reflect patient safety and be a flag for engagement with health boards where there is an upward change.

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NHS Lanarkshire is the most improved on the mainland, with figures published by ISD Scotland showing its HSMR at 0.75, a 25.9 per cent reduction.

Hairymres, Monklands and Wishaw all posted reductions of over 18 per cent and were among the eight most improved in Scotland.

Monklands has the lowest HSMR in the country at 0.68 – a reduction of 22.4 per cent since 2014, Wishaw was the second most improved with a 30.6 per cent reduction to 0.81, and Hairymres reduced its HSMR by 18.7 per cent to 0.77.

NHS Lanarkshire medical director Dr Jane Burns said: “I am delighted with the recently published figures. All our staff work extremely hard to provide the best quality service to our patients.

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“While many contributory factors drive changes in HSMR, these figures reflect very positively on the hard work and dedication of our staff across all three acute hospitals, who are doing excellent work to improve the safe care of our patients.”

Stephen Bark - Local Democracy Reporting Service

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