NHS England has published the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF), representing a significant shift in the way the NHS responds to patient safety incidents.
The framework sets out the NHS’s approach to developing and maintaining effective systems and processes for responding to patient safety incidents for the purpose of learning and improving patient safety. It replaces the current Serious Incident Framework (2015).
It supports the development and maintenance of an effective patient safety incident response system that integrates four key aims:
- Compassionate engagement and involvement of those affected by patient safety incidents.
- Application of a range of system-based approached to learning from patient safety incidents.
- Considered and proportionate responses to patient safety incidents.
- Supportive oversight focused on strengthening response system functioning and improvement.
Clinical Vice President for the RCP, Dr John Dean says, “The introduction of this new framework is a sea change in the way we learn in patient safety. It continues to move us from blame to learning as teams working together. We will no longer be just reporting multiple and individual incidents but have the opportunity to truly understand on a local, regional and national level the system factors that increase risk or might result in harm and take preventative action for patients and staff.”
Find out more about the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework on the NHS England website.
