The Scottish Audit of Surgical Mortality

SASM Process

Legal opinion of SASM process

SASM requested an opinion from the Central Legal Office concerning the legal standing of the SASM process and its implications for both participants and assessors. The legal opinion received can be summarised as follows -

1	The basic structure of SASM and its process is legally sound but the audit cycle would be best served if it were seen to be completed by each participant presenting his/her yearly SASM data at an appraisal meeting.
2	The participant him/herself is at liberty to disclose any SASM assessment to any third party, but normally no other third party could gain access to that information without the consent of the participant. The exception to this position would arise if a Trust could provide evidence of poor performance by a SASM participant and a formal investigation was underway with the documented knowledge of the participant. SASM’s duty of care regarding patient safety would oblige SASM to release audit data without the consent of the participant.
3	Assessor anonymity must be respected unless the assessor agrees to waive it. If an assessor were to be named on a SASM document he/she could be drawn into any subsequent legal proceedings relating to the reviewed case as a potential witness.
4	A SASM participant should always have a right of appeal following any SASM assessment. If the appeal cannot be resolved “in house” then the appellant should name three or four experts outside their region in the relevant field. SASM will request a case note review from one of these experts who shall remain anonymous.
5	The SASM Board has a duty of care to protect public safety. If SASM identifies such issues concerning a participant the SASM Board are required to seek further clarification / confirmation. The participant would be informed of these concerns and his/her co-operation would be sought to investigate the matter further. If the participant refused to co-operate or further investigation confirmed the safety concerns, the Board would have no option but to inform an appropriate authority (Trust / GMC).

First Line Assessors


Mr	Ahmet M	Akyol	Consultant Surgeon
Dr	Duncan	Allen	Consultant Anaesthetist
Dr	Keith	Anderson	Consultant Anaesthetist
Dr	Iain	Armstrong	Consultant Anaesthetist
Dr	Kenneth	Barker	Consultant Anaesthetist
Mr	Martin	Berlansky	Consultant Surgeon
Mr	Steven J	Boom	Consultant Surgeon
Mr	Alan	Boyd	Consultant Surgeon
Dr	Catherine	Brydon	Consultant Anaesthetist
Dr	Fergal J	Burns	Consultant Anaesthetist
Mr	Andrew M	Chappell	Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
Dr	Stephen J	Cole	Consultant Anaesthetist
Mr	Trevor	Crofts	Consultant Surgeon
Mr	John	Crowther	Consultant ENT Surgeon
Mr	Elfatih M M	El-Tahir	Consultant Surgeon
Dr	Jason M	Davies	Consultant Anaesthetist
Mr	John	De Leeuw	Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
Mr	James G	Docherty	Consultant Surgeon
Dr	John	Donnelly	Consultant Anaesthetist
Ms	Helen R	Dorrance	Consultant Surgeon
Mr	Timothy	Dougall	Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
Dr	Gordon B	Drummond	Consultant Anaesthetist
Mr	Laurence T	Dunn	Consultant Neurosurgeon
Dr	Tracey J	Dunn	Consultant Anaesthetist
Mr	James	Duncan	Consultant Surgeon
Dr	George	Duthie	Consultant Anaesthetist
Mr	Robert A	Duthie	Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
Dr	Barry J	Evans	Consultant Anaesthetist
Dr	David I M	Farquharson	Consultant Gynaecologist
Mr	Patrick	Finn	Consultant Surgeon
Mr	Paul W	Fisher	Consultant Surgeon
Dr	Robin D	Forbes	Consultant Anaesthetist
Mr	Peter J	Fok	Consultant Surgeon
Mr	Paul	Gaston	Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
Dr	David	Gibson	Consultant Gynaecologist
Mr	Alistair J R	Gray	Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
Dr	Craig A	Grice	Consultant Anaesthetist
Mr	Ian G	Gunn	Consultant Surgeon
Dr	Pandeshwar	Gururaj	Consultant Anaesthetist
Mr	Graham	Haddock	Consultant Paediatric Surgeon
Dr	J M	Harten	Consultant Anaesthetist
Dr	Kevin	Hanretty	Consultant Gynaecologist
Dr	Robert J S	Hawthorn	Consultant Gynaecologist
Mr	Richard J	Holdsworth	Consultant Surgeon
Dr	Kevin	Holliday	Consultant Anaesthetist
Mr	John D	Holmes	Consultant Plastic Surgeon
Mr	Mohammad	Hosny	Consultant Surgeon
Dr	Andrew	Hothersall	Consultant Anaesthetist
Mr	Paul G	Horgan	Consultant Surgeon
Dr	Martin	Hughes	Consultant Anaesthetist
Mr	Emad Abd El Aziz	Hussein Aly	Consultant Surgeon
Mr	Syed	Hussain	Consultant ENT Surgeon
Mr	Hasan	Kasem	Consultant Surgeon
Mr	Slawomir G	Kata	Consultant Urologist
Mr	Peter M	King	Consultant Surgeon
Mr	Andrew	Kinninmonth	Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
Dr	Andreas	Kopka	Consultant Anaesthetist
Dr	Philip	Korsah	Consultant Anaesthetist
Mrs	Alison K	Lannigan	Consultant Surgeon
Mr	Angus	MacDonald	Consultant Surgeon
Mr	Colin	MacKay	Consultant Surgeon
Dr	Andrew	Makin	Consultant Anaesthetist
Dr	William	McClymont	Consultant Anaesthetist
Dr	Marcia	McDougall	Consultant Anaesthetist
Mr	Colin J	McKay	Consultant Surgeon
Dr	Kenneth	McKinlay	Consultant Anaesthetist
Mr	Michael J	McKirdy	Consultant Surgeon
Mr	Ian P	McLean	Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
Mr	Gordon	McLeod	Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
Mr	Joseph	McManners	Consultant Oral/Maxillofacial
Mr	Leslie E F	Moffat	Consultant Urologist
Dr	Anthony	Moores	Consultant Anaesthetist
Mr	David	Mowle	Consultant Neurosurgeon
Mr	Iain M	Muir	Consultant Surgeon
Mr	Fraser Donald	Munro	Consultant Paediatric Surgeon
Mr	Dermot S	Murphy	Consultant Surgeon
Dr	John Stephen	Noble	Consultant Anaesthetist
Mr	Terence J	O'Kelly	Consultant Surgeon
Mr	James T	Patton	Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
Dr	J Louie	Plenderleith	Consultant Anaesthetist
Mr	John B	Rainey	Consultant Surgeon
Dr	Peter	Randalls	Consultant Anaesthetist
Dr	Arthur J	Ratcliffe	Consultant Anaesthetist
Dr	David	Ray	Consultant Anaesthetist
Mr	John	Reidy	Consultant Surgeon
Dr	Karen	Reynolds	Consultant Anaesthetist
Mr	Peter	Rickhuss	Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
Dr	Stuart T D	Roxburgh	Consultant Ophthalmologist
Dr	Alison	Simpson	Consultant Anaesthetist
Mr	Christopher	Simpson	Consultant Surgeon
Dr	Robert	Simpson	Consultant Anaesthetist
Dr	Moira	Simmons	Consultant Anaesthetist
Mr	Brian R	Singer	Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
Dr	Neil G	Smart	Consultant Anaesthetist
Mr	David M	Smith	Consultant Surgeon
Mr	Graeme A	Smith	Consultant Surgeon
Mr	Michael F	Smith	Consultant Urologist
Mr	Douglas W	Somerville	Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
Dr	Heather J	Spens	Consultant Anaesthetist
Dr	Neil	Storey	Consultant Anaesthetist
Dr	Lesley M	Strachan	Consultant Anaesthetist
Mr	Alasdair	Sutherland	Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
Mr	Ian	Watt	Consultant Surgeon
Mr	James D	Watson	Consultant Plastic Surgeon
Dr	Karen J	Watson	Consultant Anaesthetist
Dr	Cameron	Weir	Consultant Anaesthetist
Professor	Ian	Whittle	Consultant Neurosurgeon
Mr	Colin	Wilson	Consultant Surgeon
Mr	Christopher R	Wilson	Consultant Surgeon
Mr	R G	Wilson	Consultant Surgeon
Mr	Bernhard	Wolf	Consultant Surgeon
Dr	Mark	Worsley	Consultant Anaesthetist
Dr	David W	Wrathall	Consultant Anaesthetist
Mr	Kenneth	Young	Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
Mr	Shambhu N	Yadav	Consultant Surgeon
Professor	George G	Youngson	Consultant Paediatric Surgeon