AN investigation is underway after two West of Scotland hospitals recorded "significantly" higher than average death rates.

Officials statistics showed that mortality rates at the Vale of Leven Hospital in Paisley and the Vale of Leven hospital in Inverclyde, combined, were higher than average from January to March this year.

NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde said an intensive review of services was already underway at the two Clyde hospitals.

The board is examining the findings of the report in consultation with doctors and managers and a full report will be produced.

The figures also showed that death rates at the new Queen Elizabeth Hospital and Western General, within 30 days of admission, were significantly lower than the national average.

Overall, mortality rate at Scotland's hospitals has fallen by 4.5% over the past two years.

Official statistics show the drop was achieved between January to March 2014 and the same period this year.

The Scottish Government said the decrease equated to 3,000 fewer deaths than predicted during the period.

The Belford Hospital in Fort William also had significantly higher mortality rates than the national average - the highest in Scotland.

Patients from the least deprived areas of Scotland consistently had lower levels of mortality than patients from more deprived areas.

The Scottish Patient Safety Programme was set up with the aim of reducing hospital mortality rates by 20% by the end of 2015, a target that was missed by 3.5%.

A new target has now been set to cut mortality rates by a further 10% by December 2018, when compared to the first quarter of 2014.

A spokeswoman for NHSGGC Both the Royal Alexandra and Vale of Leven hospitals provide an extensive range of services, with more than 12,000 admissions during this three month period alone.

"They have also been at the forefront in improving emergency surgery outcomes, the roll-out of the Sepsis 6 campaign and in many other successful quality improvements projects.

While acknowledging this is not a measure of the quality of care, the local teams are focussed on the report and have launched an intensive review of existing quality improvement programmes.

The Board is pleased with the performance of the Glasgow Royal Infirmary and the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital and we will continue to focus on improving care. For our Clyde hospitals, our clinicians and local managers, together with Healthcare Improvement Scotland, will work through these findings and a full report will be compiled for the board’s clinical governance committee in due course.

Health Secretary Shona Robison said: "It is encouraging to see that our commitment to patient safety across the health service is delivering such strong results, especially at a time when our NHS is treating more people, with more complex needs, than ever before.

"The 4.5% drop in mortality rate since the start of 2014 shows we are making progress towards our new aim of a 10% reduction by December 2018. This is on top of the improvements in mortality already achieved since the start of the Scottish Patient Safety Programme in 2007.

"Scotland was the first country in the world to implement a national patient safety programme and is the only UK country publishing and driving improvement in our NHS through the use of mortality data in this way."

Professor Jason Leitch, clinical director for NHS Scotland, said: "Our NHS is working to deliver the safest possible hospitals we can for Scotland, and today's figures show we are continuing in the right direction towards our new demanding target.

"The vast majority of the thousands of patients who come through Scotland's NHS every day are cared for safely and successfully by our hard working front-line staff.

"However, there is always more we can do. Patient safety will always remain a top priority for NHS Scotland and we will continue to deliver safe, person-centred care to thousands of people across Scotland every day of the year."