LONDON, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- Several hospitals in Britain are not meeting patient safety and infection control standards, while others have unusually high mortality rates, a report said.
Dr Foster, a private firm that works with Britain's National Health Service, said in a new report at least 12 hospital trusts in Britain underperform in relation to infection control and patient safety standards, The Times of London reported Monday.
In addition, the company said it determined an estimated 5,000 deaths at 27 other hospital trusts were avoidable in 2008.
The Dr Foster review follows a Care Quality Commission report that criticized the staff and facilities at Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in Essex County, England.
Care Quality Commission Chairwoman Barbara Young said medical experts were dispatched to Basildon, but she downplayed the need for similar action at other British hospitals.
"While we are monitoring closely a number of other trusts where we have concerns, at this stage we have no evidence that there is another trust where we would take action of the kind we have taken at Basildon," Young said in a letter to British Health Secretary Andy Burnham.
