Five Midland hospitals feature in a national top ten of trusts which have the worst mortality rates in the country, it was revealed yesterday.

And the West Midlands region was the worst performing in the country, with eight of its 16 acute trusts recording high one-year and three-year mortality rates.

The worst performing hospital in the mortality table was George Eliot Hospital, in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, which scored 143 against the expected ratio of 100, according to a report by health information firm Dr Foster.

Good Hope Hospital, in Sutton Coldfield, Burton Hospitals in Staffordshire, Mid Staffordshire General Hospitals and Dudley Group of Hospitals were also among the worst ten.

Dr Peter Handslip, medical director of George Eliot Hospital, said the trust had carried out a "thorough review" of its data but this had not been reflected in the study.

He said: "This review has resulted in a dramatic improvement in the trust's standardised mortality rate since August 2006.

"Unfortunately these improvements are not captured in the information released today, but should have a significant effect on our figures in next year's Hospital Guide. Although for many illnesses the trust's own mortality rate is 'normal' there are a number of conditions for which the mortality rate has been unusually high. These particular areas then adversely affect the trust's overall rating."

Trust investigations revealed insufficient information about patient's associated medical conditions were being recorded, resulting in coding inaccuracies. Mr Handslip added this would not have affected patient care.

Paul Farenden, chief executive of Dudley Group Hospitals - which ranked eighth worst mortality score - said the trust "did not support" the methods used by Dr Foster.

He added: "The report published today gives an unreasonable representation of our mortality rates, as the methodology of the Dr Foster data collection and analysis ignores existing or underlying conditions, or take into account different levels of specialist activity."

The study, conducted for a national newspaper, revealed patients are twice as likely to die in hospitals with high mortality rates than those with lower scores.

It looked at 152 NHS trusts in England, and estimated the lives of 7,400 people could have been saved in 2005/06 if all hospital trusts with high rates cut them in line with the expected ratio.

It took into account age, sex, social demographics, the level of deprivation in the area and whether a patient has other illnesses. Of the mortality rates analysed 56 were listed as high, 45 were low mortality and 51 were average.

A Department of Health spokesman said: "At present it can be difficult for patients to get a true picture of a hospital's overall performance from the available data because it covers so many different areas.

"We will, however, be bringing all the available data together in a website which will help patients make informed choices about their health and healthcare."

Worst performing NHS trusts on mortality 2005/06 (score in brackets)

1 George Eliot Hospital (143)

2 Kettering General Hospital (136)

3 Good Hope Hospital (132)

4 Burton Hospitals (130)

5 Mid Staffordshire Hospitals (127)

6 Basildon and Thurrock University Hospitals Foundation (126)

7 Medway NHS (126)

8 Dudley Group of Hospitals (126)

9 Tameside and Glossop Acute Services (125)

10 North Middlesex University Hospital (123)