Camden New Journal - News: Royal Free again at top of hospitals' life

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Camden New Journal - by ROISIN GADELRAB
Published: 26 April 2007

Royal Free again at top of hospitals’ life-savers table

Staff claim figure is influenced by loss of beds for elderly patients

PATIENTS treated at the Royal Free Hospital in Hampstead are among the least likely to die in the country, according to a report released this week.
For the second year running, the hospital has the best mortality rate in England, but critics say the figures have been helped by the steady reduction in beds for elderly patients. Last year’s death rate figures placed the hospital 30 per cent below the national average, according to the Dr Foster Hospital Guide, published on Tuesday.
Royal Free chief executive Andrew Way said: “I am absolutely delighted the Royal Free continues to be the leading trust in the country for mortality rate. This independent measure is a clear endorsement of the quality of our clinical services. It will reassure patients that we deliver excellent care.”
But one member of staff, who did not wish to be named, said he believed the hospital’s reduction in beds for the elderly had contributed to the low mortality rate.
He said: “If the elderly people aren’t there, then the statistics are going to be better. It’s all smoke and mirrors.”
A second hospital employee contacted the New Journal to add his concerns, complaining of the lack of space for specialist elderly care.
Geoff Martin, of NHS pressure group London Health Emergency, added: “I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a direct relationship between the hospital’s mortality rate and the fact that they are reducing elderly care beds on the site.
“It’s proven that people who are elderly and frail are more susceptible to hospital infection.”
The comments come after the hospital announced it was closing the Annie Zunz ward following a decision by the borough’s governing health authority, Camden Primary Care Trust, to move elderly rehabilitation beds to St Pancras Hospital.
Royal Free medical director Dr Adrian Tookman denied there was a link between the low mortality rate and the number of elderly care beds.
He said: “We still see the same number of elderly admissions. They are just not looked after in the elderly care ward. There’s a lot in the medical admissions unit.
“Rehabilitation beds have been closed and shifted to Barnet and St Pancras hospitals. But rehab patients normally do well. It’s the acute patients that have a mortality risk.”

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