Rise in deaths associated with hospitalisation at Wexham Park

The number of deaths associated with hospitalisation has gone up at Wexham Park Hospital in the past year – though it is too soon to sound the alarm, the NHS stresses.

Official data from the NHS looks at these deaths via a measure called the Summary Hospital-level Mortality Indicator (SHMI).

SHMI is the ratio between the number of patients who die following hospitalisation and the number that would be expected to, on the basis of average England figures.

A value of more than one indicates more deaths than expected.

Latest figures looking back over the year 2023-2024 show that for Wexham Park Hospital, this value is 1.1137.

On this measure, it performed worse compared to seven of nine hospitals in England with a similar number of recorded ‘spells’ in hospital that year.

Wexham Park also fared slightly worse than the hospitals closest to it for which data was recorded, including Wycombe Hospital, Stoke Mandeville and Royal Berkshire.

The number of observed deaths at Wexham was 1,745, compared to the expected number of 1,565 – that’s 180 more deaths.

Across all the hospitals in England listed, this puts Wexham Park Hospital somewhere in the middle of the pile.

Chelsea & Westminster Hospital did the best, with a SMHI value of 0.6845 – and Leeds General Infirmary fared worst at 1.2035.

Compared to the past

Wexham has seen an increase in the rate of unanticipated deaths compared to the year before (2022-23), when its SMHI value was 1.0732.

More broadly across Frimley Health NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Wexham Park and other hospitals, this number has been getting higher year-on-year.

Looking at a sample month (May), Frimley was scoring under the expected number of deaths consistently until 2024, when it tipped over the ‘1’ dividing line.

The SMHI value has steadily climbed since 2019 – except for 2023 when it was lower than it had been in 2020.

What this means

Like most hospitals, Wexham Park’s SMHI value places it in Band 2 of three.

This means the number of deaths remains within the range of ‘expected’ and does not reach the official threshold for ‘higher than expected’.

‘Higher than expected’ would warrant some action from Frimley Health.

Only nine trusts across England reached this upper band.

On the back of this data, the NHS warns that the SHMI ‘is not a measure of quality of care’ and a higher-than-expected number of deaths ‘should not immediately be interpreted as indicating poor performance.’

It should instead be viewed as a ‘smoke alarm’ which ‘requires further investigation.’

An SHMI value has not been given for all hospitals. Those not included may deal with less serious medical issues or may only offer outpatient services.

For example, Heatherwood Hospital in Ascot, St Mark’s in Maidenhead, and Upton Hospital in Slough all did not have this data.

Response

Frimley Health said it closely monitors outcomes using several mortality metrics. These are reviewed monthly.

The trust uses advanced statistical tools to detect patterns that might indicate emerging issues. Frimley Health also has a system in place to flag any concerns related to the quality of care.

In addition, ‘morbidity and mortality meetings’ provide an opportunity to share learning across specialities.

“When necessary, these cases are escalated for further independent review to ensure full transparency and learning,” said a spokesperson.