CORESS is an independent charity, which aims to promote safety in surgical practice in the NHS and the private sector. CORESS receives confidential incident reports from surgeons and theatre staff. These reports are analysed by the Advisory Board, who make comments and extract lessons to be learned.

Aiming to educate, and avoid blame, CORESS calls on surgeons to recognise a near miss or adverse event, react by taking action to stop it happening and then report the incident to CORESS so that the lessons can be published.

CORESS works by:

• Analysing safety-related reports which would not otherwise be available
• Always keeping the identity of the reporter confidential
• Publishing reports widely in surgical literature to educate surgeons and other theatre staff
• Hosting educational seminars on safer surgical practice and human factors