Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS England Medical Director
In the NHS and across the public sector we are committed to making sure information about the quality of our services is available and accessible to all.
Making information readily available in one place allows people to hold us to account, not just for the amount of money we spend providing care but for how it is spent and what it delivers for the public.
We know that there is already lots of data published on a range of websites but it can be difficult to find and harder to compare, even if you are an expert.
On this site we have one place where organisations, professionals and the public can compare the performance of services across health and care, over a range of measures, and on local and national levels.
Overall, what this wealth of published data suggests is an encouraging picture. Despite having received little increase in funding over recent years, the NHS continues to provide high-quality care, often to the highest standards in the world.
We are meeting the challenge of increasing demand and treating more people than ever before. Despite the growing numbers of frail older people with complex medical conditions, the number of avoidable emergency admissions has risen only slightly and infection rates continue to fall. For people with long-term conditions, emergency admissions to hospital have actually fallen.
With some inexcusable exceptions, patient care is excellent and the majority of patients tell us that their experience of NHS care is positive. Perhaps, most importantly, the success of the NHS can be judged by the fact that, in part as a consequence of healthcare they receive, people are living longer than ever before.