Hospitals whose staff are in poorer health are less productive and have higher rates of patient mortality and superbug infection.

How choosing a surgeon with the lowest patient mortality rate could be a mistake, because they could just be taking on fewer risky patients.

In many hospitals the establishment of a checklist of actions to be taken before, during and after even simple operations has been found to cut down significantly on patient mortality.

With every new operation, patient mortality dropped by 1 per cent.

With time, societal expectations of low patient mortality have led to hospitals reinstating the patient outcomes as a measure of success.