Performance data on all surgeons in England will be published within two years

League tables showing the results of individual surgeons working in the NHS in England are to be published within two years, the NHS’s medical director has announced.

Bruce Keogh said that the move, backed by the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, would drive improvements in standards by forcing surgeons to deal with performance problems in an open and transparent manner.

The BMA cautiously leant its backing to the move but warned that surgeons might be deterred from taking on complex and high risk procedures if they were judged solely by “simplistic league tables.”

The NHS mandate, published last month by the Department of Health,1 pledged to expose “variation and unacceptable practice” in the health service by publishing the results of “consultant-led …