History

The Scottish Audit of Surgical Mortality was started in 1994 and includes all surgical specialties with the exceptions of thoracic, cardiac and obstetrics in Scotland.

The audit is unique in the United Kingdom and some countries around the world, including Australia, have adopted SASMs core principals.

Mortality audit has been a long standing tradition in surgery. Lothian surgeons were the first in Scotland to participate in a mortality audit and the Royal Colleges encouraged further development of this model in 1988 for adoption across the country and into all surgical specialties. This push along with a similar study in Greater Glasgow Health Board in 1989 soon amalgamated into the Scottish Audit of Surgical Mortality in 1994. SASM is now supported by the Royal College of Anaesthetists, Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow and the Royal College of Surgeons Edinburgh.

The audit now sees over 1100 consultants (surgeons, anaesthetists and interventional radiologists) voluntarily participate in the audit with over 3000 deaths undergoing peer review each year.