SASM

The Scottish Audit of Surgical Mortality has been in existence since 1994 and includes participation from all surgical specialties in Scotland with the exceptions of thoracic, cardiac and obstetrics.

The audit aims to identify all deaths under the care of a surgeon that occur in hospital with each case undergoing a peer review process. This will determine if there are 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 participate in the audit and approximately 3000 deaths are reviewed each year.

To help facilitate the audit an electronic data capture system was developed, eSASM, that all consultants are able to access.

Latest News

New Chairman for SASM
Professor Jimmy Hutchison, Regius Chair of Surgery at the University of Aberdeen has been appointed as the new Chairman of SASM. In addition, we have appointed Dr Andrew Longmate, Consultant in Critical Care Medicine at the Forth Valley Royal Hospitals, to the new post of 'Improvement Lead'. We are confident that SASM will flourish under their guidance and leadership.