THE most senior figure at The Royal Bolton Hospital has said they will learn from the failings of Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust, where at least 400 patients died unnecessary.

A report was drawn up following revelations the hospital’s mortality rates were massively above expected levels.

At the same time, it was revealed that at the Royal Bolton Hospital, 18 per cent more patients were dying than expected.

The figures were compiled in November, however, and the trust says this has now dropped to nine per cent.

David Fillingham, chief executive said that the hospital will be examining the document to explore what went wrong at Mid Staffordshire.

He said: “It is a big report with a lot of detail and the content is very concerning.

“The Department of Health is encouraging all hospitals to look at it in detail and we will be doing that to see what lessons there are for us.

“We want to reassure the board and look at what learning might come from it, there are things we might take from it.”

He highlighted three main issues from Mid Staffordshire; high death rates, the way services were organised particularly for emergency patients and the role of the board, which did not spend enough time looking at safety and quality and concentrated more on financial issues.

Mr Fillingham said: “There are three good challenges for any hospital.

“Our mortality rates were high four years ago but have steadily reduced and we have been doing a lot of work on this.

“We are reviewing urgent care to make sure there are safe, high quality and good patient experiences and we will address this over the summer.

“I think we do a lot of work as a board on safety and quality, we focus our time and attention on it and are always asking the right questions on this.”