SHOCK new figures show the death rate for patients admitted to St Albans and Hemel Hempstead hospitals for hip operations is almost twice the national average.

One in six people admitted to the hospitals suffering from a broken hip die within 30 days, according to the new government league tables.

Only patients in South Devon, a larger multi-service hospital, are more likely to die, while patients at nearby Watford and Mount Vernon hospitals have more than a 50 per cent better chance of surviving a hip fracture.

The latest NHS performance statistics also reveal that almost six per cent of people died following emergency surgery at the hospitals compared to 3.9 per cent nationwide and 3.3 per cent at Watford and Mount Vernon hospitals.

But the figures, compiled by the Department of Health before the St Albans and Hemel Hempstead NHS Trust merged with Watford and Mount Vernon, also show the number of people in St Albans and Hemel Hempstead needing an emergency re-admission to hospital within 28 days of being discharged is lower than the national average.

Only 4.8 per cent of patients needed an emergency readmission, compared to 8.4 per cent in Watford and Mount Vernon.

A spokesman for the hospital trust said: 'The trust will use this information constructively to help it review its performance as the indicators were intended to do.

'The data will be analysed so that we can look at what this means in terms of why the trust is performing less well in some areas.'

The latest indicators make better reading for West Herts Health Authority as they reveal fewer people in the area are dying from cancer and heart disease and the authority's breast cancer survival rates are higher than the national average.

In-patient waiting lists are above the national average, but fewer patients in west Hertfordshire are having their operations cancelled for non-medical reasons.

Authority chief executive Lynda Hamlyn said: 'On the whole, west Hertfordshire is a very healthy place in which to live. Screening rates are high and most people are aware of the benefits of a healthy lifestyle.

'The quality of health services is good in most areas, but there is scope for improvement. We will want to find out why we aren't performing as well in some areas.'