A REPORT has named Lewisham Hospital NHS Trust as the worst hospital in London for patient safety.

Dr Foster Intelligence, a private company in partnership with the NHS information centre for health and social care, has produced a hospital guide including every English NHS trust.

It gave Lewisham Trust an overall rating of one out of five based on a range of safety indicators such as deaths, infection rates and staffing levels.

The trust came joint third from the bottom in the country after it scored 3.42 in patient safety out of 100.

Death rates for heart attack patients were almost ten per cent above the national average and death rates of patients admitted with a broken hip were almost five per cent above the average.

Patients admitted for low-risk procedures such as a vasectomy or tonsillectomy also had a death rate above the national average.

The report showed Lewisham was bottom when it came to care for stroke victims because only 23 per cent of people received a brain scan within 24 hours of having a stroke.

These findings contradict healthcare for London’s recent assessment of stroke services which awarded the trust the top score, making it an excellent stroke centre.

Dr Foster claims patient safety was not on the monthly agenda for the trust’s board meetings and that there was no dedicated isolation ward for controlling infections.

Chairman of the Patient Welfare Forum, Janette Chattington, said: “Quite frankly I’m trying to get my head around it.

“I’m really disappointed because we as a forum carry out inspections twice monthly and in cleanliness they have come on leaps and bounds. It’s going to be looked into by the trust.”

She added: “I’m very confused because Lewisham was rated as one of the top hospitals recently.”

The Care Quality Commission, which produces an inspection report on the prevention and control of infections, rated the trust as ‘good’ for quality of services.

In April CHKS, a provider of healthcare intelligence and quality improvement services, named the trust as one of the top 40 hospitals in the UK for clinical effectiveness, health outcomes, efficiency, patient experience and quality of care.

Mayor of Lewisham Sir Steve Bullock said: “Like many fellow residents I have been well served by Lewisham Hospital over the years.

“There appears to be conflicting interpretations of the same data and until this Dr Foster organisation can explain how they have reached this conclusion it would not be appropriate for me to comment.”

A spokesman for Lewisham Hospital NHS Trust said: “Lewisham Hospital prides itself on patient safety. It is our top priority and is the first agenda item at every board meeting.

“We consistently have one of the lowest hospital acquired infection rates in the country and our quality of service has been rated as ‘good’ by the Care Quality Commission.

“We are surprised and disappointed at this scoring from Dr Foster, especially as we were rated in the top 40 hospitals by CHKS earlier this year.

“We feel the methodology used to calculate this patient safety score is unclear and very difficult for the public to understand.”