NHS takes a small step towards giving patients information about hospital success rates

NHS surgery success rates to be made public - Guardian

Extract:

"A radical overhaul of NHS strategy which will give patients a right to know the success rates of every specialist unit in every hospital is being planned by leading surgeons and government officials. For the first time, patients will be allowed to compare the quality of the clinical care provided in each NHS department.

People with a particular medical condition will be able to assess the quality of the relevant specialist teams at rival NHS hospitals before choosing where to go for treatment. In some specialties, results for individual surgeons may be available.

The strategy of increased transparency is being driven by three fundamental changes in the NHS:

The medical royal colleges want to find a reliable method for deciding whether individual consultants are fit to retain a licence to practise under the government's plan for regular reviews of doctors' professional standards.

NHS commissioners want to know the quality of every hospital department so they can purchase more care from units with the best outcomes and put pressure on under-performers.

Health ministers want to give more data to patients to help them choose the right hospital on medical grounds instead of them relying on local gossip or promotional material from trusts about quality of meals and availability of car parking.

The proposals are expected to be included in an "operating framework" for the NHS in 2008/9 that will be issued by David Nicholson, the chief executive, before the end of the year. He is understood to regard measurement of medical outcomes as the key driver of local improvement in the health service when the government moves away from setting central targets."


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