Overview and objectives

The Trauma and Injury Intelligence Group (TIIG) was set up on Merseyside and has been in existence since 2001. Based at the Centre for Public Health, Liverpool John Moores University, TIIG was established to develop an Injury Surveillance System (ISS) for the routine collection of intentional and unintentional injury data from a range of agencies, specifically emergency departments (EDs). TIIG was developed through a multi-agency steering group which included primary care trusts (PCTs), EDs, police, Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnerships (CDRPs), universities, the fire and rescue service and the ambulance service.

The purpose of the TIIG ISS is to enable systematic data collection, sharing and use, with the aims of:

• Enabling the identification and monitoring of trends in intentional and unintentional injuries;
• Assisting local partners (e.g. health services) on injury intelligence;
• Enhancing ED datasets to support local public health priorities;
• Informing injury prevention strategies through needs assessment;
• Providing a more sophisticated evaluation of the impact of interventions;
• Identifying at risk groups; and, 
• Providing the opportunity to benchmark.

Furthermore, TIIG uses a phased approach to development, working with data providers to promote the consistent collection of good quality injury data and to improve comparability of data between injury data sources. Covering all injuries and age groups, the TIIG ISS has been developed to allow all types of injury to be assessed.

The use of the Trauma and Injury Intelligence Group Injury Surveillance System

TIIG promotes the use of data provided through the ISS amongst local agencies by publishing and distributing monthly reports, along with a range of themed reports such as Injuries in Children and Assaults. TIIG also works with local partners and EDs to address any gaps in injury data, in particular by helping EDs to enhance datasets to collect extra information on falls, childhood injuries, alcohol and violence. The additional violence information (e.g.  specific location of assault) collected at some EDs is collated by TIIG into monthly and bi-weekly reports and distributed to a range of agencies working to prevent violence including CDRPs, the police, PCTs, local councils and licensing authorities. These data help the police and licensing authorities identify hotspot areas for assaults, providing information for targeted policing, and license reviews.

Specifically emergency services data has been used by a variety of agencies to inform, monitor and evaluate prevention strategies.  Area of residence data has enabled interventions to target at risk groups and communities. The following are examples of how data provided by the TIIG ISS has been used locally:

• Road traffic accident data have informed the use of Neighbourhood Renewal Fund resources to prevent road traffic accidents;
• Specific location of assault data in conjunction with other data sources has been used to help inform strategic policing and license reviews;
• Data on falls within the home have been used by PCTs and local councils to identify at risk groups;
• Data have been used to evaluate the impact of Alcohol Misuse Enforcement Campaigns and the Licensing Act 2003;
• Child injury data are used to inform, monitor and evaluate Sure Start initiatives;
• CALM (Campaign Against Living Miserably) has used data from local EDs to target their advertising campaigns at high-risk communities across Merseyside; and,
• Data on young people attending EDs with an alcohol-related injury have been used to inform the development and implementation of Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategies.