Almost two dozen patients died within 30 days of breaking their hip after being admitted to Stoke Mandeville Hospital in one year, an audit has found.

Stoke Mandeville Hospital dealt with 355 hip fractures during 2018, according to the latest annual National Hip Fracture Database report by the Royal College of Physicians.

Of these, 20 people died within 30 days of sustaining the fracture over a 12 month period.

At 5.6 per cent, the hospital had a better than average mortality rate – 6.1 per cent of people treated at the 177 trauma units across England, Wales and Northern Ireland died within one month over the year.

Those who break their hip are at increased risk of suffering potentially fatal complications, including infections, pneumonia, and cardiovascular conditions such as heart failure or strokes.

The National Hip Fracture Database was established in 2007 and examines the quality of patient care across hospitals using a series of key performance indicators.

Since then, deaths within a month of a hip fracture have halved, with around 4,000 people dying during 2018.

Hip fractures incur an annual cost of over £1 billion to health and social services.

Of the patients treated at Stoke Mandeville Hospital, 66 (19 per cent) had not been discharged to their home or original residence within 120 days of their injury.

NICE recommends that patients who need surgery receive their operation either on the day they arrive at hospital or on the following day, to ensure people recover quickly and regain their mobility.

At Stoke Mandeville Hospital, 130 patients (37 per cent) had to wait longer than this.

There were also delays for some patients when being admitted to hospital, with 27 per cent of patients admitted to an orthopaedic ward within the target four hours.

A spokesman for the Bucks Healthcare Trust said they were “incredibly proud” of its performance.

They said: “Our mortality figures have continued to decline year on year and is significantly below the national average.

“The National Hip Fracture Database (NHRD) from Jan-Dec 2018 shows BHT is one of the leading acute trusts against the NHFD’s key performance indicators. The scores are better than the national average across all six quality benchmarks for managing hip fractures.”