Department of Health - Surveillance of surgical site infection in orthopaedic surgery

Surveillance of surgical site infection following orthopaedic surgery has been included in the mandatory healthcare-associated infection surveillance system in England since April 2004.

The surveillance is managed by the Health Protection Agency on behalf of the Department of Health. Data is collected as part of the Surgical Site Infection Surveillance Service (SSISS), which has supported voluntary surveillance in several categories of surgical procedure since 1997.

Surgical Site Infection Surveillance Service (SSISS) has recently published the first annual report:

Mandatory surveillance of surgical site infection in orthopaedic surgery, report of data collected between April 2004 and March 2005