Scottish Audit of Surgical Mortality
After many successful years of audit SASM has now closed and it is intended to evolve into a structured morbidity & mortality review process for all hospital deaths. This work is currently underway and any queries should be addressed to : NSS.SMMG@nhs.net
The Scottish Audit of Surgical Mortality has been in existence since 1994 and included participation from all surgical specialties in Scotland with the exceptions of thoracic, cardiac and obstetrics.
The audit aims was to identify all deaths under the care of a surgeon that occur in hospital with each case undergoing a peer review process. It determined if there were any areas for consideration - where an aspect of care could have been improved - or an area of concern - where the assessor/coordinator felt that the quality of care provided was sub-optimal.
Over 1100 consultants (surgeons, anaesthetists, interventional radiologists and intensivists) voluntarily participated in the audit and approximately 3000 deaths were reviewed each year.