Fig. 1

Map of Mainland Scotland with NHS Health Boards. Circles show the 198 hospitals included in this study for the financial year 2007–2008. Each circle represents one hospital and hospitals are colour coded by type (pink, Teaching; green, General (no teaching); grey (Other). a. Number of cases per hospital is continuous (ranging from 0–72) and the size of circle represents the number of cases with increasing number of cases illustrated by increasingly larger circles. The legend highlights the size of a circle that represents 0, 20, 40 and 60 cases. b. Hospital size (Occupied Bed Days (OBD)) is continuous (ranging from 990–322494) and the size of circle represents the number of OBD with increasing OBD illustrated by increasingly larger circles. The legend highlights the size of a circle that represents 100,000, 200,000 and 300,000 OBD. c. Connectivity (Indegree) is continuous (ranging from 0–70) and the size of circle represents the connectivity with increasing connectivity illustrated by increasingly larger circles. The legend highlights the size of a circle that represents Connectivity of 0, 20, 40 and 60