Patient Safety Incident Response Framework supporting guidance: Oversight roles and responsibilities specification (August 2022)

Summary

The leadership and management functions of Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) oversight are wider and more multifaceted compared to previous response approaches. When working under PSIRF, NHS providers, integrated care boards (ICBs) and regulators should design their systems for oversight “in a way that allows organisations to demonstrate [improvement], rather than compliance with prescriptive, centrally mandated measures”.

To achieve this, organisations must look carefully not only at what they need to improve but also what they need to stop doing (eg panels to declare or review Serious Incident investigations). Oversight of patient safety incident response has traditionally included activity to hold provider organisations to account for the quality of their patient safety incident investigation reports.

Oversight under PSIRF focuses on engagement and empowerment rather than the more traditional command and control.