17:57
Tieng Anh Vui
Standards of care at 14 hospital trusts with the worst death rates in England are to be laid bare in a report later.
An investigation was launched earlier this year after the public inquiry into the Stafford Hospital scandal.
The trusts all had higher-than-expected death rates from 2010-11 to 2011-12.
The probe, led by NHS medical director Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, has focused on whether the figures are indicative of sustained failings in the quality of care and treatment at the trusts.
It has been looking at whether existing action by the trusts to improve quality is adequate or whether they are in need of any "additional external support".
The report was ordered by the government after the publication of the Francis Inquiry into Stafford Hospital, amid concern that failing hospitals were not being held to account.
That inquiry accused the NHS of betraying the public by putting corporate self-interest ahead of patients.
The 14 trusts investigated by Sir Bruce have the worst records in terms of mortality rates, which look at the number of deaths beyond what would be expected.
'Smoke alarm'
High death rates are in effect a "smoke alarm" - a sign that something may be wrong.
So Sir Bruce's team has carried out inspections and spoken to patients and staff to see if there were signs of serious failures that were not detected by regulators.
The trusts which have been investigated are:
• Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• Blackpool Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• Buckinghamshire Healthcare NHS Trust
• Burton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust
• The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust
• East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust
• George Eliot Hospital NHS Trust
• Medway NHS Foundation Trust
• North Cumbria University Hospitals NHS Trust
• Northern Lincolnshire and Goole Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• Sherwood Forest Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust
• Tameside Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
• United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust
At the moment, regulatory action is being taken against seven of the trusts, but none is facing the ultimate sanctions of fines, closure of individual units or administration of the entire organisation.
Key questions
Action Against Medical Accidents chief executive Peter Walsh said: "These investigations are welcome but well overdue. The problems at these trusts were known to the authorities well before any decision to look into them.
"What patients most want to know are answers to some key questions. Are these hospitals safe now? Is the regulatory system now robust enough to detect problems when they arise and intervene quickly to protect patients? Will those responsible for allowing these avoidable deaths to go on be held to account?"
Roger Taylor, of Dr Foster, a research company that has pioneered the use of mortality data, said: "In the past, there has been a culture in the NHS, which at best aims to reassure the public and at worst seeks to conceal failings.
"That culture has had its day. The reluctance to speak plainly about the risks to patients has meant that, too often, poor care has been allowed to continue. The desire to support organisations struggling to provide a high standard of care in difficult circumstances has cost patients their lives."
The Stafford Hospital inquiry was launched after data showed there had been between 400 and 1,200 more deaths than would have been expected.
It is impossible to say all of these patients would have survived if they had received better treatment, but evidence made it clear many were let down by a culture that put cost-cutting and target-chasing ahead of the quality of care.
Examples included patients being so thirsty that they had to drink water from vases and receptionists left to decide which patients to treat in A&E.
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