Patient safety incident response: A new era of safety learning in the NHS? (1 February 2022)

Summary

Serious incidents not only have a considerable human impact, but they are also detrimental to NHS reputations and finances. The current Serious Incident Framework (SIF) is a reactive, bureaucratic process, where opportunities to reduce the recurrence of a harmful incidence is often missed. With a ‘Get It Right First Time’ mentality, the new PSIRF framework was road-tested by a number of nationally appointed ‘early adopter’ Trusts and commissioners working to implement it during the course of 2021. Now a wider implementation across the NHS is planned, starting spring 2022, with guidance informed by the early adopter pilots. This blog was written by Sian Williams, NHS Team Lead & Managing Consultant, and Paul Binyon, who in a recent assignment has worked with an NHS Trust contributing to an early adopter PSIRF pilot rollout.