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Surgical site infection

Published on 15 October 2024

The Scottish Surgical Site Infection (SSI) surveillance programme was established in 2002 to estimate the risk of infection after specific procedures. Currently four surgical procedures are mandatory for inclusion within SSI surveillance:

  • hip arthroplasty
  • caesarean section
  • planned large bowel surgery
  • planned major vascular surgery.

As part of the programme, we carry out analysis of the data, report SSI incidence and trends for the mandatory procedures throughout Scotland and work with NHS boards to reduce SSI risk. SSI surveillance for planned large bowel and vascular procedures started in April 2017 and will not be  included within the quarterly epidemiological commentary until we have robust data collection in place for all NHS boards.

Publications

Quarterly epidemiological data commentaries

Read the latest commentary on quarterly epidemiological data in Scotland:

Quarterly epidemiological data on Clostridioides difficile infection, Escherichia coli bacteraemia, Staphylococcus aureus bacteraemia and Surgical Site Infection in Scotland. April to June (Q2) 2024.

View all previous quarterly epidemiological reports.

View the Open Data for this report.

Annual surveillance of healthcare associated infection reports

Read the latest Healthcare Associated Infection annual report below:

ARHAI Scotland 2023 Annual Report.

View all previous annual surveillance of healthcare associated infection reports.

Annual antimicrobial use and resistance in humans reports

Read the latest Antimicrobial Use and Resistance in Humans report:

Scottish One Health Antimicrobial Use and Antimicrobial Resistance in 2022.

View all previous annual antimicrobial use and resistance in humans reports.

Protocols

Read our surgical site surveillance protocol.

Infection prevention and control

For infection prevention and control guidance visit the A-Z pathogens section of the National Infection and Prevention Control Manual.