Hospital takes action over surgery death rate

Rotherham Hospital has introduced changes after the death rate among patients undergoing major abdominal surgery was found to be higher than the national average.

Mortality following emergency laparotomies was 168% higher than the national average in 2024/25, according to hospital board papers.

Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust said 104 patients were included in the national audit covering April 2024 to March 2025. Of those patients, 14 died, equivalent to about one in seven.

The trust said it had made efforts to diagnose patients earlier and upgraded the way patient information is passed between teams.

An emergency laparotomy is a major operation where surgeons open a patient's abdomen to treat a potentially life-threatening problem such as internal bleeding, a blockage, infection or perforated bowel.

Patients requiring an emergency laparotomy are often seriously ill and may pass through several hospital departments and clinical teams.

The trust said a number of factors could affect their outcome, rather than identifying a single explanation for the higher mortality recorded during 2024/25.

Other changes made at Rotherham include changes to patients' route through the hospital and additional workforce support.

The trust said more recent figures indicated performance had improved, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Between December 2025 and February 2026, the proportion of patients who died was 6.2%, below the national average of 7%.

The newer figures cover a shorter three-month period, and the trust has not said how many patients or deaths were included in that calculation.

A trust spokesperson said: "We have undertaken a number of actions across a number of areas which include early diagnosis, patient pathways, workforce support, enhanced multidisciplinary review and changes to handover processes."

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