PERFORMANCE data for about 5,000 surgeons – revealing how many patients have died in their care – have been made public.

The league tables, published by NHS England, were launched for the first time last year but have been extended to cover more types of surgery and an extra 1,000 consultant surgeons for 2014.

The data shows the mortality rate of patients who have undergone a specific operation, such as cardiac surgery, under an individual doctor and whether they are within expected limits.

NHS England said the mortality rates for “almost all surgeons” are “within the expected range”.

The data is being published on new website MyNHS where patients can compare critical data about hospitals and the professionals who will be treating them.

According to the data, the Great Western Hospital (GWH) in Swindon is performing ‘OK’ in all the main categories analysed, including mortality rate and infection control and cleanliness.

Ninety-one per cent of patients would recommend the hospital and 93 per cent of patients visiting the emergency department were seen with four hours. However, 54 patients waited more than 52 weeks for consultant led treatment.

Guy Rooney, medical director at GWH, spoke out in support of the data yesterday.

He said: “We fully support the publication of consultant outcomes data, in fact we publish this information on our own website.

“As a service owned by taxpayers, we have a duty to be as open and transparent as possible.

“It is important that patients have access to the information they need to make informed decisions about their care and treatment.”

In a speech yesterday, Health Secretary 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.”

NHS England’s medical director Professor Sir Bruce Keogh, who has championed better transparency in the NHS, said the website will help to drive up standards. “This represents another major step forward on the transparency journey,” he said.

“It will help drive up standards, and we are committed to expanding publication into other areas. The results demonstrate that surgery in this country is as good as anywhere in the western world and, in some specialities, it is better. The surgical community in this country deserves a great deal of credit for being a world leader in this area.”

To find the figures for a surgeon or hospital, click on the ‘See consultant outcome data’ link at www.nhs.uk