Mr Milburn's good hospital guide

doi:10.1136/bmj.325.7358.230

BMJ 2002;325:230-231 ( 3 August )

Editorials

Mr Milburn's good hospital guide

One star for trying

News p 236

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The self proclaimed aim of Health Secretary Alan Milburn's star awarding exercise, rating the performance of trusts, is simple.It is "to provide patients and the general public with comprehensive,easily understandable information on the performance of theirlocal health services."¹ No one could argue with that. Butexecution is another matter. Two dilemmas arise when constructinga summary measure of performance in an organisation as complexand heterogeneous as the NHS. On the one hand, how "comprehensive"can it be while remaining "easily understandable?" Sophisticationcan all too easily turn into mystification. On the other hand,can the same sort of exercise meet the requirements of the multipleaudiences involved? The general public apart, these include ministersand their officials, the boards of trusts as well as the doctors,nurses, and others working in them, and the commissioners of services.Attempting to meet everybody's expectations may mean frustrationall. . . [Full text of this article]

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