Introduction
The aim of the surgical profiles project is to lead to better and more widespread usage of existing Scotland-wide datasets in stimulating reflective practice and guiding improvements to surgical care and patient outcomes.
Organisations/clinical teams that provide surgical care cannot always guarantee good clinical outcomes for their patients. However, they should know what these outcomes are, and also use such information to reflect on – and guide improvements to – the services they provide for their populations.
The surgical profile presents a range of data about the surgical care provided by Scottish hospitals. Each NHS Board is accountable for reviewing and, where necessary, acting upon its own data – and local and expert knowledge needs to be drawn upon to meaningfully interpret the data.
The Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow support the project on a bi-collegiate basis. A number of clinical specialty groups have helped with the development of the profile.
To find out more about the surgical profiles project, some short video recordings of people talking about the project are available below. Further information about the project is available via the menu on the left.
To view the individual clips, press the button marked “Play” beneath the name of the presenter followed by the button marked 
on the media player. To stop the clip at any time either press the button marked “Stop” beneath the name of the presenter or the button marked
on the media player.
Dr Brian Robson (Medical Director, Healthcare Improvement Scotland):
‘The direction of travel for improvement in Scotland
will be based on measurement’.
Professor Peter Stonebridge (Professor of Vascular Surgery, Ninewells Hospital and Medical School):
'‘The rich data sources that exist in Scotland are still under utilised. This is information that could significantly be further exploited to the benefit of patients’.
Dr Gordon Birnie (Medical Director for Acute Services, NHS Fife):
‘The surgical profiles project is one approach that helps us have a better understanding of the care that we provide’.
Mr Richard Dobbie (Principal Statistician, Information Services Division of NHS National Services Scotland):
‘A control chart is a simple way of presenting data that can help guide quality improvement activities’.