Wanganui's high hospital mortality rate is no reflection of the quality of its care, an American surgeon and lawyer says.
But Steven Martyak said he believed the high number of admissions to hospitals from rest homes, combined with errors in reporting, were responsible for the mortality rate, which is the fifth highest in New Zealand.
Based on information from the Ministry of Health, the figures show that in 2010-11, 1.61 per cent of patients, a total of 156 people, admitted to Wanganui Hospital died within 30 days of admission. That is the standardised rate, which indicates actual mortality numbers versus expected mortality numbers.
The New Zealand average standardised hospital mortality rate is 1.48 per cent.
Concerned by those figures, the Whanganui District Health Board commissioned an independent external review to be carried out by Dr Martyak who works in the United States, Australia and New Zealand.