British Association of Paediatric Surgeons Congenital Anomalies Surveillance System (BAPS-CASS)
Launched October 2006
PLEASE NOTE: The BAPS-CASS programme of work has now closed. The team at the National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit are now running the Children's Surgery Outcome Reporting Programme (CSOR). To find out more about CSOR please visit: https://npeu-webpublic.ndph.ox.ac.uk/csor
Aim
To establish a monthly mailing system through BAPS to all paediatric surgical units in the UK, which will enable ongoing surveys of the surgical management of a range of rare congenital anomalies.
Objectives
- To use this system to lessen the burden on reporting clinicians of multiple requests for information from different sources.
- To use the knowledge gained to make practical improvements in prevention and treatment and allow for more effective service planning.
- To provide a system capable of responding rapidly to emerging conditions of major public health importance.
Why study rare disorders?
Rare conditions:
- Are under-researched.
- Our understanding of them is poor.
- Any interventions used in current clinical practice are rarely based on robust evidence.
- Routine sources of information are limited or unreliable.
- Comprehensive studies require a large collaboration to identify relatively small numbers of infants.
- Requests for information from multiple sources about different uncommon disorders can place an unacceptable burden on reporting clinicians.
This single, routine, reporting system avoids these problems and has the benefit of allowing the conditions under surveillance to change over time.