A whistleblower claimed last night that she was hired by an NHS hospital to fiddle its shocking death rates.
As hundreds of patients died needlessly, Sandra Haynes Kirkbright says she was headhunted by hospital bosses and asked to ‘fix’ the figures.
She claims ‘every rule in the book’ was broken to try to improve mortality rates – without saving lives.
The data recorder says she was suspended after refusing to take part in a cover-up, and even claims she was ordered not to put her concerns in writing in case they reached the Press.
The astonishing allegations – which are denied by the hospital – have emerged days after the chief executive of another NHS Trust, in Bolton, was forced aside over a possible cover-up of high death rates.
Experts have warned similar incidents could be happening in hospitals across the country.
The fresh allegations are yet another blow for NHS chief executive Sir David Nicholson, who refuses to resign despite widespread condemnation from MPs, doctors and patients since last month’s damning Mid Staffordshire report.
Mrs Haynes Kirkbright was hired by the Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust as a ‘health coder’, an administrative role which involves recording data detailing patients’ care in hospitals.
Coders do not need medical qualifications, leading critics to argue that they have disproportionate power to affect how hospitals are seen to be performing.
Mrs Haynes Kirkbright, from Texas, said she was approached following concerns over the shocking number of weekend deaths, which had contributed to the Trust scoring one of the highest mortality rates in the country.
Related articles
Another example of all the lies and deceit that goes on in high places. They are all at it. The NHS is rife with cover-ups by so-called managers who are nothing but overpaid spin-doctors. If they got rid of these useless parasites, maybe we could afford to employ decent medical staff.