LAUSR

Editor Ramsay et al. report that a key driver for the 39 per cent relative reduction in inpatient postoperative mortality in Scotland in 2000–2014 was the introduction of the WHO Surgical Safety Checklist1. The checklist has been demonstrated to reduce postoperative mortality rates (POMR) at an individual patient level2,3, but this is the first evidence for its potential to improve outcomes at a national level. We replicated Ramsay et al.’s analysis using publicly available inpatient POMR