In an effort to further improve the quality of patient care in government hospitals, the British government is requiring all National Health Service medical facilities to publish their death rates for 50 conditions.

Death rates of heart bypass surgery patients at NHS hospitals are already available online as well as survival chances by cardiologist. By summer the list will expand to include hip and knee replacement operations, throat surgeries and abdomen blood vessel operations.

The announcement of the mandatory publication are part of the Lord Darzi Next Stage Review of the NHS, slated for release on Monday.

The NHS website would include not only data on death rates but also double as a social network for health where British patients could blog about the quality of medical care they receive.