COLCHESTER General Hospital is a safe place to give birth, bosses have reassured mums-to-be.

The Keogh review into care at the hospital, published on Tuesday, highlighted 42 areas for improvement including concern over an increase in baby and foetus death rates.

However, the trust says the figures the recommendation was based on are out of date.

The trust had recorded a higher rate of perinatal mortality, stillbirths and babies who die within one week of birth, between January 2012 and March 2012 compared to the national average.

When investigators were called in to look at care at the hospital, they found the figure to be well under the national average.

A spokesman for Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust said: “Our perinatal mortality rate over the most recent 12 months is 62.7.

“It is significantly better than the national average of 86.3.”

He said Professor Elizabeth Draper, expert consultant to the Keogh review panel, reported the trust’s numbers fell into the “expected range” and are not a concern.

The spokesman added: “At the review meeting, it was also recognised there is national variability in the way that the deaths of very premature babies are recorded, which was having an impact on the figures being reviewed.

“All of the available information was thoroughly investigated, which included the clinical reviews of care we had made of the babies who had died and the opinion of Prof Elizabeth Draper.”

As part of the review, a “deep dive” investigation was conducted into baby deaths by senior doctors and they found no underlying problems.

Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust was was one of 14 trusts to be investigated because of high death rates.

It was one of three to avoid being put into special measures by NHS medical director Sir Bruce Keogh.

Liz Redfern, chief nurse for South England, described the hospital as average but said improvements are being made.