PSIRF—Insight to Improvement programme (Health Innovation East Midlands)

Summary

The introduction of the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) in 2022 marked a significant shift in how NHS organisations approach patient safety. As a nationally mandated framework for all organisations holding an NHS Standard Contract, PSIRF moves the system away from prescriptive investigation requirements and towards a more learning‑focused, proportionate, and system‑oriented model for responding to patient safety incidents.  

• It aims to strengthen the overall patient safety incident response system by emphasising four core principles:  
• compassionate involvement of those affected.  
• the use of system-based learning methodologies.  
• proportionate responses.  
• supportive oversight centred on improvement. 

Now four years later a new programme has been launched: PSIRF Insight to Improvement. 

This programme moves beyond implementation of PSIRF and focusses on understanding and developing the infrastructure needed to support the translation of insight, from systems-based learning responses, into improvement.  

It aims to lay the foundations for processes which support the consistent measurement of impact, capturing evidence of improvement across distinct safety improvement programmes. 

PSIRF has driven a shift towards systems-based learning. The new programme builds on this to:

• Reduce variation in the NHS’s ability to translate learning from patient safety incidents into sustained improvement.
• Build the capability, infrastructure, and governance required to move from insight to action.
• Connect the learning from improvement activity with strategic priorities.