Annual results for individual consultant surgeons have been published on the NHS Choices website to mark the formal launch of MyNHS.
MyNHS is a dedicated transparency area within the NHS Choices website where the performance of local hospitals, care service providers and local authorities can be compared.
The newly published data covers about 5,000 surgeons – an increase from the 4,000 covered last year – working in 13 specialist areas. The data aims to reassure patients as mortality rates for most surgeons are within the expected range.
Annual results for individual consultant surgeons have been published on the NHS Choices website to mark the formal launch of MyNHS.
MyNHS is a dedicated transparency area within the NHS Choices website where the performance of local hospitals, care service providers and local authorities can be compared.
The newly published data covers about 5,000 surgeons – an increase from the 4,000 covered last year – working in 13 specialist areas. The data aims to reassure patients as mortality rates for most surgeons are within the expected range.
So far, information on 10 out of 13 specialist areas has been released online with statistics for lung cancer, neurosurgery and urology being published in the covering weeks. The last three specialist areas are new to the list since 2013.
Work to compile the data was led by the Healthcare Quality Improvement Partnership (HQIP).
Publication director Ben Bridgewater said: “By adding more specialties, more indicators and much greater functionality on NHS Choices, we are providing patients and relatives with a much fuller picture and greater reassurance about the care they are likely to receive. This is just one part of a broader information landscape, but a vital one.”
For 2014 the publication not only includes mortality results, which were the basis of 2013’s report, but also included a number of other performance indicators including length of hospital stay and readmission rates.
The publication of outcomes data began in 2006 and was led by Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS England’s National Medical Director, who pioneered the scheme with publication of the mortalityrates of cardiac surgeons.
He said: “This represents another major step forward on the transparency journey. It will help drive up standards, and we are committed to expanding publication into other areas.
“The results demonstrate that surgery in this country is as good as anywhere in the western world and, in some specialities, it is better. The surgical community in this country deserves a great deal of credit for being a world leader in this area.”
