HAMPSHIRE hospitals have average mortality rates, according to The Sunday Times Good Hospital Guide.
Winchester and Eastleigh Health-care NHS Trust, which has 32 doctors per 100 beds, ranked seventh in the league of low death rates out of 27 hospitals in the South-East.
Southampton University Hospitals NHS Trust ranked 20th, but has 56 doctors per 100 beds.
The guide describes a low death rate as a crucial performance indicator by which a hospital can be judged.
It reveals for the first time the number of patient-deaths for 174 English NHS hospital trusts, taking into account factors such as age, gender and diagnosis.
A spokesman for the guide said that although death rates were a critical piece of data in measuring the performance of hospital trusts, they were only one out of ten comparative indicators used.
Winchester scored a mortality index of 94 and Southampton 104.
The figures were compiled by Imperial College School of Scien-ce, Technology and Medicine, in London, under the direction of Sir Brian Jarman.
The guide describes an average performance of having a mortality index of 100.
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