Public Health England: Surveillance of surgical site infections in NHS hospitals in England (April 2019 to March 2020)

Summary

This report summarises data submitted by NHS hospitals and independent sector (IS) NHS treatment centres in England to the national SSI Surveillance Service (SSISS) at Public Health England (PHE). The aim of the national surveillance programme is to enhance the quality of patient care by encouraging hospitals to use data obtained from surveillance to compare their rates of SSI over time and against a national benchmark, and to use this information to review and guide clinical practice.

The SSISS provides an infrastructure for hospitals to collect data on 17 surgical categories spanning general surgery, cardiothoracic, neurosurgery, gynaecology, vascular, gastroenterology and orthopaedics. Surveillance is targeted at open surgical procedures, which carry a higher risk of infection than minimally invasive (‘keyhole’) procedures.

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