What is STAG?

The Scottish Trauma Audit Group is one of a number of national audits within the Scottish National Audit Programme (SNAP). SNAP moved from National Services Scotland to the newly formed Public Health Scotland on the 1st April 2020.

STAG recommenced an audit of trauma in 2011 with the aim of improving the quality of care, overall experience and long term outcome of patients with significant injuries through measuring compliance against standards of care to support local quality improvement.

The responsibility for the oversight of the audit including maintenance of reporting standards, adherence to aims, objectives and reporting of results rests with the STAG Steering Group, with multi-disciplinary representation from most of the Health boards in Scotland and patient representation. The Steering Group meets regularly throughout the year to review the progress and direction of the audit in achieving its aims and objectives.

 

 

What’s new?

STAG Annual Report 2024

The latest Audit of Trauma Management Annual Report 2024 (external link) is published on 20 August 2024 by Public Health Scotland. This report includes new analysis on frailty and real length of stay, and for the first time, contains recommendations for greater understanding and improved service delivery.

Severe injury in children and young adults, NHS Scotland, 2018 - 2023

Severe injury in children and young adults, NHS Scotland, 2018-2023- (external link) is published on 4 June 2024 by Public Health Scotland. This is the first comprehensive analysis of severe injury data for children and young people under the age of 16 in Scotland by STAG.

Key Performance Indicators - 2024

STAG have published some changes to the Key Performance Indicators [365 Kb] and details can be found under the relevant sections - published 13 March 2024.

Paediatric Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs)

The PROMs programme was rolled out to paediatric patients in April 2022 following permission by the Public Benefit and Privacy Panel. More details to follow on the PROMs page of the website soon.

Frailty

STAG started to collect data on frailty in late 2021 after mortality reviews have shown a proportion of patients who die following trauma are frail. This data will help us better understand the impact of frailty on the trauma population.

The Scottish National Audit Programme (SNAP)

The Scottish National Audit Programme (SNAP) encompasses STAG and other national audits including MsK, Stroke and Scottish Arthroplasty. The SNAP Governance protocol has been ratified by the Scottish Government and processes have been applied, with hospitals who are more than three standard deviations from the Scottish mean, for reported standards, being asked to formally reply, detailing their investigation and action plan.

Public Health Scotland (PHS) - SNAP became part of PHS on the 1st April 2020. PHS is a national special health board, jointly sponsored by the Scottish Government and COSLA. Its formation is a result of the reorganisation of the public health landscape to create a whole-system approach to public health in Scotland.

Scottish Trauma Network (STN)

Scottish Trauma Network (STN) - More information on the STN can be found on its website: www.scottishtraumanetwork.com