Severe injury in children and young people, NHS Scotland
Scottish Trauma Audit Group, 2018-2023

About this release

This release by PHS is the first comprehensive analysis of severe injury (trauma) data for children and young people under the age of 16 in Scotland by the Scottish Trauma Audit Group (STAG). It provides a reference point that spans the implementation of the Scottish Trauma Network (STN) and can advise its next phase to ensure that Scotland's children continue to receive the highest standard of trauma care. It also serves as a resource to inform injury prevention.  

Main points

• STAG report on 1326 paediatric patients in this report.
• Of the children reported, 21% (n=274) were categorised as having major trauma and 65% (n=861) with moderate trauma across the six years.
• Major trauma was more frequent in the under 2 year olds and 12-15 year olds.

Graph shows place of injury by severity of injury. Most children are injured in place of residence followed by transport area then sports/recreational area.

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Figure 4.1: Place of injury, by severity of injury (2018-2023)

• A moving vehicle injury (MVI) was the most frequent mechanism of injury for the last four years (32%) and was consistently the most frequent reason for patients with major trauma (48%).
• 38% of MVIs were pedestrians and 28% were pedal cyclists involving another vehicle.
• 25% of children with major trauma self-presented to hospital.
• Non accidental injury (NAI) was proven in 4% of children, with 94% of these in the under 2 year olds.
• 99% of children survived after a severe injury.
• More transfers of children are coordinated using the Single Point of Contact (SPOC) process following the introduction of the STN.

Background

STAG’s aim is to improve the quality of care, patient experience, and outcomes of severely injured patients through measuring compliance against Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to support local quality improvement.

Severe injury is categorised as major, moderate, or minor using the Injury Severity Score (Baker et al, 1974). To be included in STAG an injured patient has to be in hospital for at least three days, be admitted to critical care or die in hospital. There are many more patients with an injury admitted to Scottish hospitals which are reported in the PHS Unintentional injuries report 

Full details of the KPIs and STAG inclusion criteria can be found by on the STAG website.

Further information

The next release of this publication will be in 2027.