Summary
NHS England and partners – including the Department of Health, Public Health England (PHE), the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and the Health and Social Care Information Centre (HSCIC) – have developed the MyNHS comparison website, which enables readers to compare services in terms of various national and regional outcomes.
The MyNHS website allows users (and professionals) to compare health and social care organisations, thereby helping them assess how their local services compare with those of other localities. This information service, available via the NHS Choices site, covers hospitals, and providers of social care and public health, at national and regional levels, with a view to promoting transparency and informed choice, while also encouraging improvements in the quality of care. Data covers patient safety, efficiency, quality, public health, social care commissioning, and hospital food standards.
Further data is expected to be added to MyNHS shortly, from clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), GP practices, clinicians and mental health trusts.
Reference
My NHS. London: NHS England, September 19th 2014.
See also:
Reference
New MyNHS transparency site goes live. London: Department of Health, September 18th 2014.
“Healthcare professionals, commissioners, regulators and members of the public can then use this data to drive improvements in patient safety and quality – keeping patient outcomes at the heart”.
Surgeons and Transparency: Inducements and Penalties
Performance data, including mortality outcomes, concerning roughly 5,000 surgeons in England will be published via MyNHS from Wednesday November 10th 2014. Sir Bruce Keogh, Medical Director of NHS England, is convinced this move should drive-up standards overall.
The law of unintended consequences and perverse (dis)incentives may always be with us; some surgeons have criticised this development in that it could discourage the taking-on of more difficult cases (to the possible detriment of some patients).
Reference
Surgeons told to publish mortality rates or face penalties. London: BBC Health News, November 16th 2014.
