1. Association of Surgeons of Great Britain and Ireland. Seventy four 'acute' hospitals participated in the initial audit;London; the
2. A lead consultant at each site (usually a member of the British Society of Gastroenterology) represented the project locally. The identification of subjects and administration of the questionnaire was undertaken by an audit coordinator at each hospital. Patients were identified daily in the accident and emergency departmnent, the wards, the endoscopy unit, the operating theatre, and from blood transfusion records and admission data. The questionnaire was generally completed by medical staff and the audit coordinator was then responsible for checking and returning a completed questionnaire for each patient correctly identified. The data collected incorporated patient details including known risk factors, treatment including the use of endoscopy, endoscopic findings, details of surgical involvement, diagnosis, complications, and mortality. Data were entered into a computer database using a validated optical scanning device.18,19
3. The risk scoring system was validated using data collected during the second phase of the national audit in 1994, which used an identical methodology at 45 'acute' hospitals from three health regions over a period of three months