Death rates for four hospital procedures will be published by the Department of Health today in a move designed to help patients make more informed choices.

DH interim director general of informatics and NHS medical director Sir Bruce Keogh told HSJ: “What I’m trying to do is send a clear message to the service that the days of discussing whether or not we should publish outcomes are over, but that now we need to get some more sophisticated discussions into publishing ones that are meaningful.”

He acknowledged that the new standardised mortality rates for elective and emergency repairs of abdominal aneurysms and elective hip and knee replacements at each trust were just a “starting point”.

But publication of the underlying data could cause consternation within the NHS. There are fears it will be used to draw up league tables of hospital death rates.

The mortality rates are standardised by taking into account case-mix and factors such as age. A score of 100 would indicate an average death rate across the country. Results ranging from 0-372 are classed as “within the expected range” because acceptable ranges differ depending on demographics. They will be described in this way on NHS Choices from today. A “methodologies” document will reveal the underlying figures, which vary hugely between trusts.

A spokeswoman said the DH would try to make it clear to the public that those figures were “not comparable” and should not be used as the basis of league tables.

See this week’s leader for more.

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