Editor’s blog Sunday 13 June 2010: Guardian outs death rate disparities

A loud bravo for The Guardian, which in this article, outs disparities in mortality rates for vascular surgery across the NHS in England.

The article shows that "some hospitals have unacceptably high mortality.

"It demonstrates the case for the closure of small hospital units, which the government has put on hold. Death rates vary from less than one in 50 in some hospitals to more than one in 10 in others".

"The investigation reveals the hollowness of patient choice, which the coalition, like Labour before it, has made the centrepiece of NHS policy. The data amassed by the Guardian from surgeons at 116 hospital trusts after an extensive freedom of information trawl is not publicly available – and is at odds with what appears on the NHS Choices website, set up to help patients choose where to be treated".

Go and read it now. This is agenda-shaping stuff.