Freedom of Information – SAER: September 2026
Request details
Request
The applicant requested the following:
1. The number of completed Significant Adverse Event Reviews (SAERs) submitted to Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) by each health board, in each year from 2018 to the most recent available year.
2. The number of those SAERs that were subsequently reviewed or scrutinised by HIS broken down by health board and by year and the criteria or thresholds HIS applies when deciding whether to review a submitted SAER.
3. Whether HIS has any formal mechanism to direct a health board to revise or amend a completed SAER, and if so, the number of times that power has been used in each year from 2018 to present.
4. Whether HIS conducts any national audit of health board compliance with SAER timescale targets, and if so, the results of any such audit conducted since 2018, including, where available, a breakdown by health board showing average SAER completion times against target.
5. Any HIS reports or reviews since 2018 that specifically assess SAER practice within neurology or neurosciences departments in NHS Scotland.
Response
1. The number of completed Significant Adverse Event Reviews (SAERs) submitted to Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) by each health board, in each year from 2018 to the most recent available year.
Healthcare Improvement Scotland (HIS) do not receive completed Significant Adverse Event Reviews (SAER) reports from NHS boards, accordingly the information you seek is not held.
2. The number of those SAERs that were subsequently reviewed or scrutinised by HIS broken down by health board and by year and the criteria or thresholds HIS applies when deciding whether to review a submitted SAER.
Please see the above response to question 1.
3. Whether HIS has any formal mechanism to direct a health board to revise or amend a completed SAER, and if so, the number of times that power has been used in each year from 2018 to present.
As HIS does not routinely receive SAER reports from NHS boards, we do not have any mechanisms to direct a health board to revise or amend a completed SAER.
4. Whether HIS conducts any national audit of health board compliance with SAER timescale targets, and if so, the results of any such audit conducted since 2018including, where available, a breakdown by health board showing average SAER completion times against target.
HIS does not conduct national audits of health board compliance with SAER timescale targets. HIS does not receive the full range of data that would be required to undertake such an audit.
HIS does, however, hold limited data on the commissioning and closure dates of SAERs. From this, HIS calculates the number of working days between those dates and produces charts showing whether closure occurred within 140 working days. These charts, available since 2022, are not national audit reports, but they are the recorded information held by HIS relevant to this part of your request. Copies of the charts held by HIS are attached.
5. Any HIS reports or reviews since 2018 that specifically assess SAER practice within neurology or neurosciences departments in NHS Scotland.
We do not hold this information. HIS has not produced any reports or reviews since 2018 that specifically assess SAER practice within neurology or neuroscience departments in NHS Scotland.
Applied exemptions
The following exemptions have been applied to this response. If you wish to learn more about the relevant exemptions please visit the Scottish Information Commissioners website using the links below. You will leave the HIS website: FOISA exemptions
Section 17 – Information not held Information not held – Exemption 17
Reviews and Appeals
For more information on our reviews and appeals, please visit: Freedom of information reviews and appeals – Healthcare Improvement Scotland