Welcome to the Surveillance of Surgical and Procedural Site Infections Project website.
The Surveillance of Surgical and Procedural Site Infections (SSI) project is now complete. The SSI project was one of the three Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) projects which are part of the wider health sector's National Quality Improvement Programme (NQIP).
Introduction to the SSI project
In developed countries, SSI account for about 14 percent of possible adverse events threatening patient safety in hospitals. SSIs occur in at least 5 percent of the patients undergoing surgical procedures every year and prolong the patient’s hospital stay on average by 7.4 days, at an average cost of $1000 per day.
This project provided an opportunity to develop recommendations for a consistent, evidence-based approach nationally to the surveillance of SSI. In turn, it is expected that the recommended approach will contribute to national and international efforts to improve the safety of patients, healthcare workers and wider communities by reducing healthcare-acquired infections (HAI).
The SSI project builds on substantial international experience in reducing HAI. Surveillance of infections is one of the most important functions of a hospital infection control programme. Surveillance, with prompt feedback of data to surgical services, can result in reductions in infection rates. In addition, reporting of risk-adjusted, procedure-specific infection rates is a measure of the quality of care.
The aim of the SSI project
The aim of the SSI Surveillance Project was to develop recommendations for national SSI surveillance and, as outlined below, this aim was achieved.
The purpose of developing a national SSI surveillance programme is to identify and measure SSI events to help inform quality improvement initiatives. The outcome of such a surveillance programme will be to provide hospitals with information to guide clinical practice improvements and free up resources for other healthcare activities.
Final decisions on whether the recommendations are implemented and funded will be made by the Government.
How the health sector has been involved in the development of draft recommendations
The project team developed the consultation document ‘Draft Recommendations for a National Surgical and Procedural Site Infection Surveillance Programme’. This document was sent to a range of stakeholder groups who will either have an impact on, or will be impacted by, a national system for SSI surveillance. The closing date for feedback was 16 November 2009. Download a pdf copy of the consultation document by clicking on the following link.
Consultation Document.pdf 
The consultation document provided all interested parties full information upon which to comment. We received submissions from 32 separate individuals and organisations. The feedback we received was largely positive and supportive of most of the draft recommendations. Submissions were also very helpful in identifying any issues, changes needed, and/or further work required to inform the development of final recommendations on a national SSI surveillance system.
What happened to the consultation feedback and final project recommendations?
The SSI project team analysed and discussed all the consultation feedback and, as appropriate, incorporated feedback in revised recommendations and the supporting rationale. The final report and recommendations were also informed by specialist statistical advice.
Updated recommendations were approved by the IPC Programme Steering Group and submitted to the Ministry of Health in April 2010. The Ministry has noted that further cost benefit work and analysis may be required and has referred the recommendations directly to the Health Quality and Safety Commission (HQSC) Interim Board for consideration in the course of developing the HQSC work programme.
