MORE than 300 patients may have died needlessly at Colchester’s hospitals in one year, according to new figures.
The trust running Colchester General Hospital and Essex County Hospital has been classed a “repeat outlier” for consistently scoring high on the Summary Hospital-level Mortality Indicator (SHMI).
The measure predicts how many people are expected to die in hospital or within 30 days of being discharged.
The Dr Foster team of analysts said 1,854 patients would be expected to die between October 2011 and September 2012. In reality 320 more patients - 2,174 patients in total - died.
Health officials cautioned the data is "experimental" and the figures should only act as a "smoke alarm".
See Thursday's Gazette for the full story - including reaction from hospital bosses.
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