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October 13, 2024
Hospital doctors who perform badly will be able to opt out of league tables that are designed to improve transparency in the NHS.
They are being approached by managers and asked if data on their track record can be shared with the public – and they are free to refuse.
Those who say no will not only be able to hide information on their performance, but also leave no trace of having done so.
nstead they will simply be left off the league tables, with no indication they withheld their consent, it emerged last night.
A senior Whitehall source said the loophole undermined transparency and was ‘farcical’.
‘The medical establishment has closed ranks to stop patients telling the truth,’ said the source.
‘This is tantamount to schools being able to stop the release of information about their pupils’ exams results.’
The league table idea has been championed by the Conservatives since 2009, but has yet to be introduced.
Transparency: The tables are part of a policy by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to allow patients to pick which doctors they want to be treated by
Transparency: The tables are part of a policy by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to allow patients to pick which doctors they want to be treated by
They are part of a policy by Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to allow patients to pick which doctors they wish to be treated by based on their performance.
Information about how well patients recover following surgery or treatment is set to be published publicly to give the public the choice to use the best health professionals and drive up standards.
However, doctors can opt out on the grounds of data privacy.
The move seeks to replicate the move four years ago to publish data on the performance of heart surgeons.
Public patient survival rates were said to have dramatically improved after previously restricted data was made available.
However, a spokesman for NHS England yesterday said there was still ‘some way to go’ before the organisation is sufficiently transparent.
‘Around 96 per cent of consultants across ten specialties who have responded have opted in to the publication of data about their performance, which patients should have the right to see,’ he said.
‘We urge all consultants to think very carefully about the effect on their patients and their colleagues if they choose to opt out on the basis of legislation designed to protect personal data.
‘The publication of consultant-level data for ten surgical specialties heralds a new level of openness, but there is some way to go before the NHS is as transparent as it should be.
‘Information about how individual consultants perform helps them improve as clinicians and give better patient care.
League table: Information about how well patients recover following surgery or treatment is set to be published publicly to give the public the choice to use the best health professionals and drive up standards
‘This has been clear since the first publication of data on cardiac consultants’ performance a decade ago, which resulted in heart surgery survival going from below the European average to amongst the best.
‘The experience with the publication of cardiac data strongly suggests that consultant surgeons who do feel uncomfortable quickly come on board when they see the enormous benefits publication brings to their patients and to themselves.’
A Department for Health spokesman said: ‘If there are legal grounds for individual doctors opting out, any patient and their family would be entitled to ask why and may prefer their operation to be carried out by someone who was prepared to be fully transparent.’
A spokesman for the Royal College of Surgeons said it was a ‘watershed moment’ and urged doctors to take part. Data for non-consenting surgeons cannot not be published without breaching the Data Protection Act, he said.
Source Mail Online