- Revealed: the hospitals with the worst death rates in Britain.
Michelle Paduano Guardian
Unlimited Sunday November 18, 2001
- The average patient should treat with caution the heart surgery consultants'
guide published by the data firm Dr Foster
today, but should not ignore it;
the publication of such information may one day - in an indirect way - save
your life. The guide attempts to provide an assessment of hospital
mortality information robust enough to enable patients to make an
"informed decision" about the "most suitable consultant"
in their area. Guardian
Society Monday November 19, 2001
- Guide reveals maternity service lottery. Guardian
Thursday January 3, 2002
- League tables to show surgeon death rates. Guardian
Society Thursday January 17, 2002
- Heart surgeons are to have their death rates published as part of plans to
put patients' needs "centre stage", after the death of 29 children
at the Bristol Royal Infirmary, the health secretary, Alan Milburn, told MPs. Guardian
Unlimited Friday January 18, 2002
- Patient death rates to be made public. 'Milestone' as performance of
every surgeon to be revealed Guardian
Friday January 18, 2002
- Revolution in maternity wards. Gaby Hinsliff and Kamal Ahmed
Guardian
Unlimited Sunday January 20, 2002
- Cancer survival rates disputed. James Meikle, health correspondent
Guardian
Monday June 3, 2002
- NHS quality and performance: the issue explained. Patrick Butler Society
Thursday June 6, 2002
- Plan to monitor patient death rates to stop a second Shipman. James
Meikle, health correspondent
Friday
January 31, 2003 The Guardian
- What the survey said: death rates for heart operations.
Monday November 3, 2003
- The NHS trust that took over a specialist heart hospital from the private
sector has a death rate for heart bypass operations that is 2.75 times the
national average, according to a survey published today. Tash Shifrin and
agencies
Monday November 3, 2003
- Unacceptable variations in hospital care exist across the country with the
quality of treatment patients receive dependent on where they live, the health
service watchdog said in a report published today. The Commission for Health
Improvement (Chi) said overall hospital care across England and Wales had
significantly improved in the four years it had been reviewing services.
Thursday March 18, 2004
- Patients and relatives will be given access to records about individual
doctors' performances in a move by the freedom of information tsar that puts him
on a collision course with sections of the medical profession. Martin Bright and
Jo Revill
Sunday
January 2, 2005 The Observer
- Twenty-five surgeons from north-west England publish their individual
mortality rates for heart operations today, setting a precedent for other
doctors who are under pressure from the public to reveal their results. The
surgeons say they hope their move will promote openness and transparency within
the NHS. Sarah Boseley, health editor
Friday
March 4, 2005 The Guardian
- Guardian investigation under freedom of information extracts first data on
heart surgeons and reveals successes and failures of system.
Guide: NHS heart surgery data . Sarah Boseley, John Carvel and Rob Evans
Wednesday
March 16, 2005 The Guardian
- For the first time in the history of British medicine the mortality rates of
individual doctors in one medical speciality are being published in our pages
today. Leader
Wednesday
March 16, 2005 The Guardian
- The publication today of data on patient deaths during and after heart
operations is a landmark step on the road towards a more open health system.
John Carvel, Sarah Boseley and Rob Evans
Wednesday
March 16, 2005 The Guardian
- Website for heart data. Letter from John Reid
Thursday
March 17, 2005 The Guardian
- Many of the trusts added an explanatory note to the data they provided to
the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act. It was drawn up for them by
Roger Boyle, heart tsar at the Department of Health. This is the full text of
his advice.
Thursday March 17, 2005
- Adrian Marchbank, a consultant cardiothoracic surgeon at Derriford hospital
in Plymouth, explains how the Guardian's application under the Freedom of
Information Act has 'stirred up a hornet's nest' at his NHS trust. Money
allocated for information systems to collect clinical data has been spent
elsewhere.
Friday March 18, 2005
- Improving the quality of healthcare is impossible without the honest
collection and assessment of data, says Helene Mulholland.
Wednesday June 15, 2005 The Guardian
- Hospital mortality rates in some parts of England are 50% lower than in
others, according to a new health index showing huge variations in patient
satisfaction, quality of care and equality of access to treatment. James Meikle,
health correspondent
Wednesday June 15, 2005
- Interpreting the information here will require context. Some PCTs, for
example, will have implemented health campaigns. External factors should be
taken into account, says James Meikle.
Wednesday June 15, 2005 The Guardian
- Health mapping 2005: methodology and notes. Paul Aylin, Alex Bottle, Steve
Middleton, Susan Williams
Wednesday June 15, 2005
- A new set of measurements by which members of the public can assess their
local health services is available on the Society Guardian website today. Unlike
previous performance targets which have concentrated on administration - numbers
of patients treated, GP waiting times, hospital inpatient and outpatient waiting
lists - the new indicators examine how well patients are treated, how satisfied
they are with their treatment, and how fair the access to health services has
been. Leader
Wednesday
June 15, 2005 The Guardian
- A London hospital last night claimed it might be the first in the world to
publish death rates for all its clinical specialities. In a move that could open
the floodgates on the provision of information to patients, it has detailed
statistics on how its various departments performed. St George's in Tooting,
south-west London, is already one of only a few hospitals in Britain to publish
the results for individual heart surgeons, a controversial move opposed by many
elsewhere, as was seen when the Guardian used Freedom of Information legislation
earlier this year to force other hospitals to reveal their figures. James
Meikle, health correspondent
Thursday
August 25, 2005 The Guardian
- The health inspectorate plans to publish information about the
death rates
of individual heart surgeons in April, a year after a Guardian inquiry cast
doubt on the reliability of some data collected by hospitals. Sir Ian Kennedy,
chairman of the Healthcare Commission, intends to make the results available
on an official website in four months. They will allow patients to choose a
surgeon on the basis of his or her success rate for similar operations. Sarah
Boseley and John Carvel
Monday January 2, 2006 The Guardian
- Three leading NHS hospitals risk being downgraded for failing to give
information on the death rates of their heart surgery patients, the Guardian has
learned. The trusts are the only ones in the UK not to have provided key data
for the Healthcare Commission, which has been gathering information on mortality
rates linked to individual surgeons. The information will be published today on
a groundbreaking website designed to enable heart patients and their families
the chance to make informed choices about where to have surgery. Last night one
of Britain's top heart surgeons warned that the commission might penalise the
three trusts - St Mary's in Paddington, west
London, Glenfields in
Leicester, and Morriston in
Swansea - by downgrading them in their annual performance ratings. "I think
it is utterly unacceptable in a modern health service that units no longer have
the discipline or facility to collect good outcome data," said Sir Bruce Keogh,
president of the Society of Cardiothoracic Surgeons. After a Guardian
investigation last year, the commission asked all hospitals performing heart
surgery to provide data on operations such as bypass grafts and aortic valve
replacements. The aim was to help patients assess a surgeon's track record
before having an operation. In a historic move the commission will publish data
on death rates at almost all the 33 hospitals performing this complex work in
England and Wales. It will disclose risk-adjusted mortality rates for individual
surgeons at 17 cardiac units, and the aggregated results for 13 units. John
Carvel and Sarah Boseley
Wednesday
April 26, 2006 The Guardian
- League tables showing the length of time patients at hospitals around the
country survive cancer may be published by the government so they can make
informed decisions about where to go for their care. Health secretary Patricia
Hewitt yesterday announced a cancer reform strategy at the Britain Against
Cancer conference in London. Mike Richards, the cancer tsar, who will develop
the strategy, believes that league tables could be a key tool. But the British
Medical Association said yesterday that doctors who treat the sickest patients -
often in the most deprived areas - could wrongly appear worse than others. The
data hospitals held on patient outcomes was not accurate and did not take into
account risks such as the patient's age and the nature of their disease. Sarah
Boseley, health editor
Friday
December 1, 2006 The Guardian
- Leading hospital did not reveal damning report into heart surgery. A
Guardian investigation has led to calls for greater transparency in the NHS
after it emerged that heart surgery patients at an elite teaching hospital were
exposed to "serious clinical risk", according to a report that was not made
public. The hitherto confidential report by Sir Bruce Keogh, one of the most
eminent cardiothoracic surgeons in Britain, said facilities for heart patients
at St Mary's hospital trust in Paddington in west
London, were "almost certainly the worst in the country".John Carvel, social
affairs editor
Monday
January 8, 2007 The Guardian
- Private providers
stung by vaccine data failures. Private providers of single measles, mumps
and rubella vaccines have come in for stinging criticism from NHS GPs and the
Health Protection Agency (HPA) over their inability to produce accurate data.
The HPA has attempted to estimate the contribution of single vaccines to
protection in the overall population. Researchers identified 27 providers in
England and Wales via internet searches and the Medicines and Healthcare
Products Regulation Agency. But only nine of the clinics provided any data, and
none were able to produce all the data requested. It was impossible to find out
how many children had received all doses of each vaccine, said Dr Natasha
Crowcroft, consultant epidemiologist at the HPA. 'Despite concerted effort and
long delays, data were only received from one-third of the providers,' she said.
'I'd say we weren't surprised but were disappointed, and recommend the
Healthcare Commission sets the same standard of data collection and reporting by
private clinics as is required of the NHS.' Dr George Kassianos, a Berkshire GP
and RCGP vaccination spokesman, said: 'What this study demonstrates is that, due
to the high costs [of single vaccines], parents choose what to have for their
children so most only receive one vaccine - measles - and many will not have the
second dose. These children's NHS notes are incomplete, their immunity to these
diseases is incomplete or non-existent, and the only thing certain is the profit
the providers are making.'
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public of Doctor
17 April 2007
- Hospital
'mortality rate lottery'. A study by Dr Foster Research has revealed that
patients are twice as likely to die in some hospitals as in others. Despite
falling overall mortality rates, there were vast disparities between the 152
hospital trusts analysed. Researchers said that 7,400 lives could have been
saved if the worst performing trusts achieved the expected rate. The Royal Free
Hospital NHS Trust in North London was the best-performing, with a mortality
rate 26 per cent lower than the expected rate. The highest mortality level was
found at George Eliot Hospital Trust in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, 43 per cent
above the expected level. Factors affecting rates were infections, medical error
and failure of "quality of care".
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public of Times
24 April 2007
- NHS to rate GPs
for new patient guide. GPs are set to be rated on a series of practice
indicators to allow patients to choose where they want to be registered. The NHS
has joined with private firm Dr Foster to draw up plans for assessing GPs using
prescribing and referral data. Dr Foster Intelligence, a 50:50 public-private
venture, plans a scorecard on similar lines to its high-profile Hospital Guide,
the latest edition of which is published this week. A spokesperson insisted the
scheme would be voluntary, but it has intensified pressure for a nationwide,
practice-led accreditation scheme. The RCGP warned that if GPs did not engage
with its own controversial system for accrediting practices, private firms would
be bound to take over. The National Audit Office criticised the Department of
Health in February for setting up Dr Foster Intelligence without going out to
tender.
Summary by
Keep our NHS Public of Pulse
27 April 2007
- Stroke patients die needlessly in care lottery, study reveals.
Hundreds of deaths of stroke sufferers could be avoided if disparities in
treatment were remedied, new figures suggest today. More than a third do not
receive treatment on a stroke unit where their prospects are considerably
better, a national audit found. Research, funded by the Healthcare Commission,
found large disparities in the quality of care offered across England, Wales and
Northern Ireland. Patients in
Wales are more likely to die, or if they survive suffer higher levels of
disability, than elsewhere. Fewer than three in 10 (28%) patients there are
treated in a stroke unit, compared with an average across the three countries of
62%. Meanwhile, two out of three (64%) patients in England and seven out of 10
(73%) patients in
Northern Ireland can expect to visit a specialist unit. Press Association
Wednesday
May 9, 2007 SocietyGuardian.co.uk
- Cancer survival rates have doubled, say experts. Patients have
46% chance of living for 10 years. Specialists reject call for expensive
new drugs. Sarah Boseley, health editor
Wednesday May 16, 2007 The Guardian
- Surgery records
online. An independent NHS special health authority, the Information Centre,
has published online the survival rates for specialist heart hospitals treating
children. The move follows the inquiry into child heart surgery at
Bristol Royal Infirmary in 2001, which found that patients should have
greater access to information. The
Congenital Heart Disease Website is a world first and lists consultants,
contact details and hospital website links. Summary by
Keep our NHS Public of Times
1 June 2007
- Speedier treatment boosts heart attack survival rates. More patients
are receiving emergency treatment within 60 minutes of suffering a heart attack,
but there is still variation between hospitals, a report out today reveals. In
England, 64% of patients were given "clot-busting" drugs within an hour of
calling for help in 2006-07 - up on the 58% in 2005-06. Some hospitals met that
target just 26% of the time, but the report pointed out this could be down to
rural locations making some trips slower or some units offering patients
angioplasty without the need for drugs first. Press Association
Thursday
July 12, 2007 SocietyGuardian.co.uk
- Ignorance isn’t bliss – Policy Exchange. New research: Standards would be
driven up if NHS patients received more of the right kind of information.
Download
report: Measure for measure.
Care & Health 20 July 2007
- NHS surgery success rates to be made public. 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. John Carvel, social affairs editor
Tuesday
August 28, 2007 The Guardian
- NHS rationing
rife, say doctors. Rationing of NHS treatments is becoming more
widespread, a survey of GPs and hospital doctors suggests. Doctor magazine
asked readers about rationing. Of 653 answering questions on consequences, 107
- 16% - said patients had died early as a result. More than half - 349 - said
patients had suffered as a result. This compared with one in five in a similar
survey conducted nine years ago. The government said decisions had to be made
on which treatments to provide. The magazine asked 12,000 of its readers a
variety of questions with between 473 and 857 replying to each one. Doctors
said more debate was urgently needed over what should and should not be
rationed. They reported not being allowed to prescribe drug treatments
including smoking cessation drugs and anti-obesity treatment. They also
reported that local NHS trusts had been placing restrictions on fertility
treatments, obesity surgery and a host of minor operations, including those
for varicose veins. The magazine said the findings of the latest poll showed
rationing was becoming more widespread. A similar survey nine years ago showed
that a much smaller proportion - one in five, compared to half - were aware of
patients who had suffered due to rationing. Summary by
Keep our NHS Public of BBC
25 September 2007
- NHS rationing has caused patient deaths, doctors claim. One in six
doctors has seen patients die because NHS resources were rationed, according to
a survey published today. More than half report seeing patients suffer because
treatment was rationed. And two-thirds claim they have been told not to
prescribe certain drugs by their NHS trust, even though the results could be
fatal. The survey of more than 850 GPs and hospital doctors was carried out
jointly by Doctor and Hospital Doctor magazines. It shows the situation has
deteriorated since a similar survey by Doctor nine years ago. Then, one in five
doctors reported that patients had suffered as a result of treatment rationing
and one in 20 knew patients who had died. More than half of those in the new
poll said they had been asked not to refer patients or to carry out certain
procedures. Of those whose prescribing was rationed, 75% said it was on cost
grounds. Examples included some branded statins (used to lower cholesterol),
which 21% of respondents said they had been told not to prescribe, and some
smoking cessation drugs (9%). Press Association
Tuesday
September 25, 2007 SocietyGuardian.co.uk
- Half of trauma patients in A&E receive poor care, say doctors. More
than half of all patients arriving in hospital with severe injuries receive poor
care, according to an investigation led by senior doctors which also expresses
concern about the care of patients before they even reach hospital. Trauma, or
serious physical injury, is a leading cause of death of young people, who may
end up in hospital after a road accident or fight. But the report, from the
charity National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD),
found medical staff often did not appreciate how severely ill patients were and
showed little urgency over care. They also made erroneous clinical decisions.
Often the problem lay with inexperienced junior staff left to manage trauma
patients admitted at night. A third of patients arriving in A&E did not see a
consultant there. ... The report, covering care before hospital, says that in
some cases patients should have been taken directly to hospitals capable of
dealing with brain injuries. Sarah Boseley, health editor
Wednesday
November 21, 2007 The Guardian
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