The way patients report on how well their treatment has gone is to be expanded greatly as the result of Lord Darzi’s “next stage” review of the NHS. The move should slowly transform the quality of care, according to advocates of the approach.

For the first time the National Health Service will be able to measure systematically how far treatment makes patients better. It should help patients choose between services, allow doctors to compare their performance against others, help primary care trusts know where best to commission care from, and finally allow the NHS to measure its productivity more effectively.