After the Bristol Heart Scandal in the 1990’s, the speciality of cardiac surgery rose to the occasion, leading the way in publishing individual surgeon’s mortality figures and self-audit, which made it perhaps the most transparent speciality in the UK, and thus consolidating its long-held position as a world leader in the training of surgeons and patient safety.
Professor Bruce Keogh, head of NHS England, recently announced that NHS surgeons will now be asked to submit their mortality data online to public scrutiny, and failure to do so will result in medical purgatory.
The cardiac surgery experience suggests that ‘league tables’ will improve outcomes; I disagree. The public deserves competence from their surgeons, something prevalent in the NHS 99.9% of the time. It cannot be denied that there is a significant gap between a merely competent surgeon, and an excellent one.
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