Deaths: Rate falls in Scots hospitals

HOSPITAL mortality rates in Scotland are reducing - but some hospitals are still failing to bring deaths down, figures show.

The hospital standardised mortality ratio (HSMR) data showed that overall death rates across Scotland have fallen by 6 per cent since December 2007, an average drop of 0.5 per cent a quarter.

But a small number of hospitals have reported little progress, with some even seeing rates increase slightly.

These include NHS Highland's Belford Hospital in Fort William up 1.1 per cent since December 2007, and Caithness Hospital, up 15.1 per cent. Also rising were Gilbert Bain Hospital on Shetland, up 14.9 per cent, and Vale of Leven and the Royal Alexandra in Paisley, up 2 per cent.

St John's in Livingston also made little progress, with a small drop of 0.1 per cent.

In some cases, statisticians pointed out that hospitals treating small numbers of patients, such as Gilbert Bain, could have their figures skewed by a small number of deaths.

Information analyst Richard Dobbie said: "Most hospitals are coming down, but some are relatively stable or with small increases. They may say that is because there is a lot of variation in there or it involves a small number of cases."

He added: "If they were not getting a change, we would be wanting to ask the question why that is, because this data has been around for quite a while now."

Health secretary Nicola Sturgeon said the figures suggested that hospital mortality was reducing over time in Scotland.

"Our efforts will continue unabated to drive this figure down hospital by hospital," she said. "By definition, some hospitals will be above and others will be below the average."

Dr David Farquharson, medical director of NHS Lothian, said: "The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, St John's Hospital and the Western General Hospital have consistently shown mortality rates below the Scottish mean for the last four years."