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Tuesday, November 18, 2008, 12:02
The shocking results of a national survey of all hospitals showed almost a quarter of deaths were unexpected.
But local health bosses blame their own "inaccurate coding" of patients' conditions, which is missing factors contributing to deaths, for massively distorting the figures.
They have launched a damage limitation exercise to shore up public confidence which they fear might be destroyed by the publication of the Dr Foster Intelligence 2008 Hospital Guide this week.
Hospital chief executive Alan Whittle told a press conference convened on Thursday: "We believe this information could be very damaging to this organisation if it is misinterpreted and misunderstood.
"It could put back the level of confidence that people have in health care provision."
The guide's authors used hundreds of indicators collected by all hospitals, including details of a patient's diagnosis and taking into account the age, sex and whether they were admitted as an emergency or for a planned operation, to calculate an index called the Hospital Standardised Mortality Rate.
Basildon Hospital scored 132.2 – the highest in the guide nationwide.
The hospital had performed much better according to other systems for monitoring care across the country and was highly praised during a Health Care Commission review two months ago.
The Comparative Health Knowledge Systems, a similar survey using the same data, found mortality rates were seven per cent above the norm.
Mr Whittle said: "If the data had been accurately coded by the Dr Foster guide we would expect to see ourselves at the national average if not better for mortality rates."
He added: "This hospital last month received its annual health check from the Health Care Commission for the same year and this trust was awarded a double 'excellent'.
"That is very hard to achieve because it means year on year this hospital is providing better care for patients."
Doctors and nurses have now pledged to give up their free time to work with the hospital's staff who process the red tape to ensure data is correct.
This year, South West Essex Primary Care Trust has invested an additional £4.2million to improve care.
The PCT's deputy chief executive and director of quality and nursing Barbara Stuttle said: "If this is a mark of the public's confidence in the service or provision, we've got to get it right. Confidence in the care is part of the treatment."
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