Introduction
When a patient is admitted to hospital as an inpatient or day case within non-obstetric and non-psychiatric specialties procedural information is recorded for each episode of care. There are up to 4 procedures recorded on each SMR01 record. This should also be the case for each outpatient attendance (SMR00 record).
Due to variations in data recording across all NHS Boards it is difficult to describe and accurately quantify the level of procedures carried out in outpatients. This is particularly relevant for monitoring how changes in clinical practice have enabled the transfer of certain clinical activities, previously requiring inpatient or day case admission, to outpatients.
From the 1st April 2008, it was no longer mandatory to record procedures (such as imaging, injections, infusions, x-rays etc) on inpatient and day case records unless the patient was specifically admitted for this purpose. For further details please refer to the Clinical Coding Guidelines (March 08 No.22).
Details on the clinical coding used to record procedures can be found in the following Data Sources and Clinical Coding document 
.
The information linked below has been updated to include the most recent available data.
Inpatient and Day case Surgical procedures and operations - All Ages
The tables relating to procedures (for patients of all ages) have been revised to include outpatient activity alongside inpatient and day case activity, and also incorporate updated procedure groupings. This is to allow the data that are collected to be available for comparison and to ensure that the groups of OPCS-4 codes used are the most up-to-date. The groups have been selected to cover the majority of procedures undertaken in NHSScotland.
Details of all recorded inpatient, day case and outpatient procedures performed in NHS Scotland for the financial years ending March 2007 to 2011 are contained within the following Excel file.
Inpatient, Daycase and Outpatient Procedures 
[11.1Mb]
Please note, in order to view this file, your macro security settings will need to be set to medium. To change macro security settings using Tools, Macro, Security - set security level to Medium and re-open the report.
As nationally collected information about procedures performed in an outpatient setting is known to be incomplete, ISD are working with NHS Boards to develop full compliance nationally. Details of completeness can be found within Inpatient, Daycase and Outpatient Procedures file.
(1) AUDIT SCOTLAND. Outpatients count: results of a census on outpatient activity. Published in August 2003, ref AGS/2003/6. ISBN 1904651062.
Inpatient and Day case Surgical procedures and operations - Children aged 14 and under
In 2010/11, over 34,000 elective inpatient and day case procedures/operations were carried out on children aged 14 years and under.
'Extraction of tooth' accounted for 20.7% of the total planned procedures. From 1st April 2001, any tooth extractions performed under general anaesthetic in children had to be carried out in a hospital setting. These figures do not however include any tooth extractions in children that were performed under sedation by general dental practitioners or within the community dental services.
Children undergo a broad range of elective procedures and this is reflected in the fact that 13.3% of all recorded procedures for children aged 14 years and under in 2010/11 were for 'Miscellaneous Operations'. These include correction of congenital deformity, delivery of radiotherapy or chemotherapy, injections, blood transfusion etc. From 1st of April 2008, it was no longer mandatory to record intervention/procedures (such as imaging, injections, infusions, x-rays etc) on inpatient and daycase records unless the patient is specifically admitted for this purpose.
24.8% of the 11,000 procedures performed following an emergency admission in 2010/11 were procedures on 'other bones and joints'. This mainly relates to the reduction of fractures and dislocations of bones other than the skull and facial bones.
Procedures (elective and emergency admissions)
[6.8Mb] - number of main procedures performed on children aged 14 years and under by age group for financial years 2006/07 - 2010/11.
Please note, in order to view this file, your macro security settings will need to be set to medium. To change macro security settings using Tools, Macro, Security - set security level to Medium and re-open the report.
British Association of Day Surgery (BADS) Procedures
British Association of Day Surgery (BADS) has produced a directory of surgical procedures that contain aspirational goals for day surgery (including outpatient surgery). These cover around 40% of all surgical procedures.
Monthly Data - HEAT Targets
The Scottish Government developed a HEAT target relating to improving efficiencies in same-day surgery. The target was to achieve 80% of BADS procedures performed in a day case or outpatient setting by March 2011.
Monthly BADS data by NHS board of treatment (124Kb)
While data is available up to September 2011, completeness varies greatly by NHS Board. Due to the ongoing issues relating to the supply of complete and comprehensive hospital activity data from a number of NHS Boards, figures from November 2010 onwards should be treated as provisional. Details can be found the monthly BADS table.
Performance against this HEAT target is measured using monthly data and counts inpatients with a length of stay of zero days alongside day cases and outpatients.
Annual Data
The Excel file below presents information on the numbers and percentage of British Association of Day Surgery (BADS) procedures performed in an inpatient, day case or outpatient setting for the last 5 financial years (2006/07 to 2010/11) by specialty.
Annual BADS data by NHS Board of treatment [5.2Mb]
Please note, in order to view this file, your macro security settings will need to be set to medium. To change macro security settings using Tools, Macro, Security - set security level to Medium and re-open the report.
It should be noted that due to variations in data recording across all NHS Boards it is difficult to describe and accurately quantify the level of procedures carried out in outpatients, Nationally collected information about procedures performed in an outpatient setting is known to be incomplete. ISD are working with NHS Boards to develop full compliance nationally. Details of completeness can be found within the Monthly and Annual Excel files.
(1) AUDIT SCOTLAND. Outpatients count: results of a census on outpatient activity. Published in August 2003, ref AGS/2003/6. ISBN 1904651062.
