Health secretary Jeremy Hunt has formally launched the NHS’ transparency site, MyNHS.
The site on NHS Choices is a tool where users can compare the performance of their local NHS hospital, care services and their local authority based on up-to-date information.
MyNHS includes data on food quality, staffing, patient safety and mental health. The launch is the first time a wide range of performance indicators has been made available to the public in this format.
In a speech at the Foundation Trust Network Conference, Jeremy Hunt said: “Transparency is about patient outcomes not process targets. It uses the power of a learning culture and of peer review, not blame.
“Healthcare globally has been slow to develop the kind of safety culture based on openness and transparency that has become normal in the airline, oil and nuclear industries. The NHS is now blazing a trail across the world as the first major health economy to adopt this kind of culture.”
Hunt also announced that the government would consult on including explicit right in the NHS Constitution for patients and the public to have clear and comparable data about the organisations that provide their care.
Data has been added to the site since September but starting from this week, users will also be able to search consultant outcome data on NHS Choices, completing the first phase of the tool.
From early December, patients will also be able to see the Care Quality Commission’s individual risk rating for GP practices. More data is due to be added as the site evolves, including one-year and five-year cancer survival rates for NHS trusts.