Report reveals hospital mortality rates for serious conditions

The report looked at hospital mortality rates for six medical conditions at 44 publicly-funded hospitals.

CUH was the only hospital outside the expected range for deaths from ischaemic stroke.

“Cork University Hospital had an SMR (standardised mortality ratio) outside the upper control limit in 2016, meaning that this SMR was higher than could be explained by chance alone,” reads the report.

CUH carried out a review to investigate why its mortality rates for ischaemic stroke fell outside the national statistics and found that it was not connected to the quality of care at the hospital.

“There was no quality of care deficits identified in this review,” CUH’s response in the report reads.

“The overwhelming finding was that both severity of stroke and presence of severe co-existing disease were significant factors contributing to our higher mortality.”

The five other medical conditions that were looked at in the audit report include acute myocardial infarction (AMI) or heart attack, heart failure, haemorrhagic stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and pneumonia.

A key finding showed there has been a 40% reduction in the number of people dying in hospital after being admitted with a heart attack.

There was a 40% reduction in deaths, from the condition, per 100 admissions from 9.3 in 2007 to 5.6 in 2016.

Over the same 10-year period there was also a drop in deaths as a result of heart failure.

There was a reduction of 16% in deaths per 100 admissions from 9.5 in 2007 to 8 in 2016.

For ischaemic stroke, there was a 36% reduction in deaths per 100 admissions from 15.2 in 2007 to 9.8 in 2016.

For COPD, there was a reduction of 22% in deaths per 100 admissions from 4.6 in 2007 to 3.6 in 2016 and for pneumonia, there was a reduction of 20% in deaths per 100 admissions from 13.8 in 2007 to 11.1 in 2016.

There was no significant reduction in deaths from haemorrhagic stroke.

The authors of the report pointed out that it cannot be used to “compare” hospitals because they each have a different mix of patient profiles and cases.

Margaret Murphy, patient advocate for World Health Organisation, said: “The sharing of reviews and learning through the medium of this report is to be welcomed as beneficial for all hospitals while also contributing to relevant improvement in the quality and safety of patient care”.

Dr Brian Creedon, NAHM clinical lead, said: “Hospitals realise the importance of monitoring mortality data in their hospitals and using this to improve the quality of care they provide to their patients.”

“NOCA works closely with hospitals and welcomes the commitment shown to shared learning and transparency in this report,” he added.