Excessive deaths probed at U.K. hospitals

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LONDON, Feb. 6 (UPI) -- Thousands more patients have been found to have died needlessly at British hospitals in recent years, a report released Wednesday revealed.

The report found a total of 3,063 deaths between July 2010 and June 2012 over and above the number that would have been expected at hospitals run by five trusts, The Daily Telegraph reported.

Blackpool Teaching Hospitals had the highest number of excessive deaths, 879, the Telegraph said. East Lancashire Hospitals National Health System Trust, which has facilities in Blackburn and Burnley, had 618; Colchester Hospital University Trust in Essex had 599; Basildon and Thurrock, also in Essex, had 508; and Tameside, near Manchester, had 459.

The report followed an earlier one that exposed the needless deaths of up to 1,200 patients at the Mid Staffordshire trust, which includes Stafford Hospital.

Bruce Keogh, medical director of the NHS Commissioning Board, will be in charge of the follow-up investigation into the deaths.

The newspaper said the latest report ratcheted up the pressure on NHS Chief Executive David Nicholson, already under fire for failing to know about the problems at Mid Staffs.