ONE in five patients diagnosed with pneumonia at Royal Bolton Hospital die – but bosses say the figures could be flawed.

A total of 296 patients died between September 2018 and August 2019 out of the 1,547 who had a primary diagnosis of pneumonia, figures show.

This means the pneumonia mortality rate at Bolton NHS Foundation Trust is 19.1 per cent, compared to the North West average of 14.9 per cent.

But a question mark still hangs over the investigation into the causes behind the trust being an outlier in the region.

Dr Francis Andrews, consultant in emergency medicine at the trust, told the board of directors that there may be an error in the data.

He said: “I think the issue is how its translating into coding. We think that there is an issue in recording the information which is what is being verified."

Detailed analysis showed that 146 of the 1,547 patients diagnosed with pneumonia were recorded as having acquired pneumonia in the hospital. However, not all of these patients had a recent hospital stay which means the pneumonia cannot be regarded as hospital acquired.

Dr Andrews also told the board that the Care Quality Commission has found no problems with care at the hospital. He added: “We’ve found other problems with quality of care but not with pneumonia.”

Outgoing chief executive, Dr Jackie Bene, told the board that she looked into the matter back in 2008 and came to the same conclusion as Dr Andrews.

Speaking after the meeting, Dr Andrews said: “I assured the board that the apparent higher rate of mortality for pneumonia at the Trust was not associated with problems in quality of care, following previous audits and an ongoing review. I feel that this is a measurement problem that we need to do additional work to understand. Death rates from pneumonia are measured using a complex formula, and we are working with AQUA over the coming year to clarify the reason for the figures.

“I’d like to assure the people of Bolton that we are following best practice for caring for patients with pneumonia.”