BOSSES at East Lancashire Hospitals NHS Trust are bracing themselves for the publication of a major report into standards of care.

NHS medical director Sir Bruce Keogh, who has been investigating 14 hospital trusts with ‘higher than expected’ death rates, will publish his findings today.

Tories are likely to seize on the findings to attack Labour’s handling of the health service. Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham was in charge of the NHS between June 2009 and May 2010.

David Cameron commissioned the report in February after Robert Francis QC’s inquiry into the Stafford Hospital scandal exposed appalling lapses in both care of patients, and the regulation of hospitals.

Board members at the East Lancashire Trust have argued that high deprivation levels within its patient base have skewed the mortality figures.