REDBRIDGE’S hospital trust has had such a high death rate from blood poisoning that it sparked an official alert.
The Barking, Havering and Redbridge Hospitals Trust (BHRT), which runs King George’s Hospital in Ilford, is one of seven around the country identified today by the government’s Care Quality Commission as having registered an unusually high death rate at some point in the last two years.
The alert for BHRT was triggered in March 2008 by rates of death among people suffering from septicaemia but an investigation into the outbreak had been concluded by January this year.
A spokeswoman for BHRT said: "A full investigation was carried out which revealed there had been issues with incorrect coding, which would have led to misleading data.
"A detailed action plan was also drawn up to ensure that septicaemia was correctly diagnosed and recorded so that accurate figures could be obtained.
"We also ensured that doctors were following the correct procedures for treatment.
"The Care Quality Commission is satisfied that it does not need to investigate the issue further, and has closed the case."
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