Mr James Johnson, chair of the British Medical Association's consultants committee, said that currently it was almost impossible for doctors to know if their results were up to scratch because there was nothing to compare them with.

He called for average results for the NHS as a whole to be published, so that doctors can check their performance and take action to improve their results.

Consultants leader James Johnson wants league tables

He also wants a system of peer appraisal to be introduced.

But he warned that setting up an effective audit system would be costly and would need government funding.

Mr Johnson told a press conference in London: "The Bristol case has clearly stimulated a lot of debate about what we need to do to make self regulation work.

Public confidence 'dented'

"Inevitably, public confidence has been dented by the case and people are concerned about whether the treatment they are getting is up to scratch.

"We need a system of self-governance in local hospitals that steps in before things go wrong.

"We need proper risk management strategies in hospitals for recording things that go wrong or near-misses so that hospitals can analyse this in a systematic way and make sure they don't happen again."