Critical Care
The Scottish Intensive Care Society Audit Group (SICSAG) is the national audit for Critical Care in Scotland and has produced a continuous database since 1995; currently there are 23 Intensive Care Units and 41 High Dependency Units voluntarily contributing data to this Audit.
Critical Care underpins emergency and elective work in all acute hospitals. Annually, more than 30,000 of the most severely ill or injured patients are admitted to Critical Care, requiring specialist care and treatment.
SICSAG's aim is to improve the quality of care delivered to Critical Care patients by monitoring and comparing activities and outcomes across Scottish Critical Care. We intend to drive standards and quality of care upward by engagement with clinical staff, and to provide them with information that can be used in quality improvement programmes.
Quality strategies, the Scottish Patient Safety Programme and Healthcare Associated Infection Surveillance have become embedded in all units over 2009. The scrutiny and co-ordination provided by SICSAG has helped drive this work forward. We provide national comparisons of process and outcomes and seek explanation of differences. We promote use of local data for improvement rather than judgement.
The SICSAG infrastructure also provides a web based 'bed bureau' function that identifies the current occupancy of Critical Care beds in Scotland. While the key target audience is the Critical Care and Emergency Medicine community, data from the audit can also be used to inform the Scottish Government Health Directorates and NHS Boards about levels of activity and resource requirements in Critical Care.
Critical Care faces challenges in the coming years with reduced public spending and projected increased demands on services by an ageing population. The information and data from this national database remains vital to meet the needs of the Scottish population.
