LETTER: Death rate gap widens

The latest data from Summary Hospital-Level Indicator (SHMI), published on January 27, shows that the North Tees and Hartlepool NHS Foundation Trust has higher than predicted mortality ratios.

Figures show that there were a total of 1,801 deaths in the University Hospital of North Tees in the year to June, 2014.

This is 252, or more than 16 per cent, more deaths than the expected mortality rate of 1,549.

And the gap was even wider than the previous year, when there were 215 deaths more than expected.

This, in my opinion, proves that the University Hospital of North Tees should be no longer considered as a viable option to provide health care provision.

It just cannot cope with the pressure it is under.

However, it would not surprise me if the trust’s chief executive, Alan Foster, and his chairman, Paul Garvin, conjure up some excuse regarding these figures.

Bring the services and the A&E department back to Hartlepool immediately and provide the people of Hartlepool and the collieries with the service they deserve.

Geoff Hare,

Kingsley Avenue,

Hartlepool.