Feasibility of establishing a UK-wide injury database: report & next steps

The results of a year-long study, commissioned jointly by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA), the Electrical Safety Council (ESC) and Intertek RAM have been published in a report, co-authored by Heather Ward and Geraldine Healey.

This report was presented to Alan Johnson, Secretary of State for Health in England, and based on the findings of the research, the Department of Health has agreed to fund a pilot study to explore how information on people attending Accident and Emergency (A&E) departments can be improved. This pilot, to be led by the South West Public health Observatory, will involve testing methods of data collection on both accidental and intentional injuries in England and will draw on and complement current pilots in Wales, Scotland and violence-related pilot data collections in England. The Injury Observatory for Britain and Ireland (IOBI) members will also advise on how A&E data could be combined in a UK-wide approach to contribute to the European Injury Database.

Following the report’s recommendations, the commissioning partners are also looking at establishing a UK Injury Taskforce to steer multi-agency work to improve data collection in all settings and advise on systems for combining and disseminating information. The Injury Observatory for Britain and Ireland (IOBI) members will contribute significantly to this work.

Report background:

The objective of the report study was to explore options for developing a UK-wide injury surveillance system which could facilitate the prevention of injury (both accidental and intentional) by providing data for research, policy development, the development and evaluation of injury prevention programmes, risk assessment and product development.

The report:

• calls for improved data from government departments and agencies;
• summarises the findings from interviews and questionnaires;
• outlines the essential features of surveillance systems based on international examples;
• and proposes options for data collection, analysis and dissemination in the four home counties in the UK.

The report’s analysis of gaps in UK injury data collection shows that there is no one database that can currently provide data at national, regional and local levels and fulfil all requirements. It recommends instead that a data management centre needs to be established to co-ordinate UK data collation, management, analysis and dissemination.

The report also particularly focuses on the need for improved accident and emergency data collection following the cessation of the Home Accident Surveillance System (HASS) and Leisure Accident Surveillance system (LASS) data collections in 2002. An archive of the data is available through ROSPA’s website and is used by 70,000 visitors per year. Unfortunately this national level view is now out of date and can no longer be used to identify emerging trends.

The report is available at: http://www.rospa.com/hassandlass/feasibility/