Board papers presented to Wye Valley NHS Trust’s latest meeting show the trust’s summary hospital-level mortality indicator (SHMI), a key NHS measure, stands at 114.6, meaning more deaths were recorded than expected over a rolling 12-month period.
The figure is based on 1,305 recorded deaths compared with 1,135 expected deaths and remains above the national benchmark score of 100.
But the trust’s chief medical officer was quick to tell the meeting there were signs the position was improving.
Dr Chizo Agwu said a provisional SHMI figure for the following month had already fallen to 111.
She said this was the first set of figures to include Same Day Emergency Care (SDEC), the service designed to assess, diagnose and treat patients on the same day without needing to be admitted overnight.
She said the trust expected the measure to continue falling as more data from the SDEC unit filtered through.
Dr Agwu said the trust took reassurance from other mortality measures, including a crude inpatient mortality rate of 1.24 per cent during July.
That equated to 58 inpatient deaths during the month, together with seven deaths recorded in the emergency department.
The meeting also heard that outcomes for patients with fractured neck of femur injuries had improved significantly.
While the overall picture was improving, Dr Agwu said sepsis and stroke remained areas requiring continued oversight, but the trust was not currently an outlier.
A new sepsis lead has been appointed within the emergency department, while further work is under way to improve care pathways and review stroke mortality data.
Board members were also told maternity outcomes remained strong.
The latest rolling 12-month figures show an extended perinatal mortality rate of 2.57 per 1,000 births and a stillbirth rate of 0.7, both below national averages.
The trust’s learning from deaths process was also described as robust.