Responding to the launch of today's 2010 Conservative Party manifesto, President of the Royal College of Surgeons John Black said:
“In surgery, the move towards collecting and publishing the outcomes of treatment is already well advanced. So it is pleasing to see this approach is being highlighted by the Conservative Party in their election manifesto alongside a commitment to move away from the kind of central targets which have so distorted patient care. The pledge to publish details of all public health providers online must include the private sector units who currently do not make as much data on the quality of their surgery available as their NHS counterparts.
”Doctors must be allowed to make it known when they see problems with services in their local area which could damage patient safety. We would be interested in seeing greater detail on how clinicians can be better protected when they speak out as this is currently a very complicated area.”
