Cautious welcome for hospital comparison site

Patients will be able to compare the performance of hospitals on a new official website.

The online tool should allow them to rank their local hospitals on infection rates, readmissions and staffing.

An Angus councillor, who is a non-executive member of NHS Tayside board, welcomed the increase in transparency, but feared the impact on waiting lists if it leads to patients requesting a certain hospital.

The website is expected to launch in the coming weeks, with information on joint replacements and cataract removals forming the first dataset.

Catherine Calderwood, the chief medical officer for Scotland, expects there to be more information uploaded by the site that allows people to compare outcomes from treatment.

She said it was unfair that someone with a medical background could weigh up the pros and cons of undergoing treatment, when the data is not available to others.

“I did not like the feeling I was in a privileged position because of my medical training,” Dr Calderwood told the Times before the launch of the website.

“Why wouldn’t a patient have the same information?”

Derek Wann, a Scottish Conservative councillor in Angus, said: “I welcome the opportunity for patients to see where best each hospital is performing, I am all for transparency.

“My only issue with this would be if everyone chose to go to the same hospital, for whatever treatment due to better performance, there will be an even bigger waiting list.”

Alex Cole-Hamilton, for the Scottish Liberal Democrats, said improved access to information is positive, but warned the Scottish Government against using the database as the “foundation for yet more centralisation”.