SURGEONS in Worcestershire have been given a clean bill of health in figures showing how many patients have died in their care over the past year.

Information was made public by NHS England this week showing how many patients had died either while they were being cared for by an individual surgeon or shortly after the treatment.

The data at www.nhs.uk/mynhs shows every surgeon working in Worcestershire ranked “within the expected range”, meaning some patients had died in their care or shortly afterwards, but not an amount that would cause alarm.

Although some have said the figures being made public could result in surgeons being less inclined to take on high-risk operations, chairman of patient watchdog Healthwatch Worcestershire Peter Pinfield applauded the release of the information.

“I welcome any information that helps people understand what’s going on,” he said.

“I don’t see it as a negative thing at all.

“For too long people’s performance has been hidden.

“If it was me or my family being operated on I would want to know about the performance of the surgeon."

But he cautioned anyone looking at the information to view it in a wider context.

“The figures are not intended to be black and white," he said. "It’s to give you a feeling of how people are performing.”

Chief medical officer at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust – the organisation running Worcestershire Royal Hospital, Kidderminster Hospital and Redditch’s Alexandra Hospital – Mark Wake also welcomed the release of the data.

“The publication of data on how consultant surgeons are performing is one of many pieces of information which can help patients and their families make informed choices about their care and see how the quality of care is improving in the NHS,” he said.

NHS England’s medical director Professor Sir Bruce Keogh said he believed the data being publicly available would drive up standards and last week told the Sunday Times the organisation was planning on enforcing penalties on consultants who refused to publish their death rates.

"We will lose some surgeons,” he said. “We will, and have as a consequence of this endeavour."

He has also said he does not believe releasing the figures will damage patients.

"You've got to start somewhere,” he said. “At this stage the figures are in many cases relatively crude but it's better to start somewhere and improve them."

The league tables were launched last year but have been expanded to cover a wider area and more specialisms.

Earlier this week the Care Quality Commission released its Intelligent Monitoring database, ranking every GP surgery in the country.

Although Worcestershire fared well in the report – with only one surgery placed in the highest risk band – doctors have called the validly of the data into question, with secretary of the Worcestershire Local Medical Committee Dr Simon Parkinson said he felt the CQC had “jumped the gun” by releasing the information before most practices had been inspected.