A public consultation has opened in Northern Ireland to improve identification, reporting and investigation of patient safety incidents.
A public consultation has opened on the redesign of the current Serious Adverse Incident (SAI) procedure in Northern Ireland.
The SAI review process is intended to play an important role in securing improvements in the quality and safety of health and social care services by ensuring that incidents are identified, reported and investigated as appropriate so that learning can be shared across the healthcare system.
There is clear evidence from inquiries and reports – including the Regulation and Quality Improvement Authority’s (RQIA) report Review of Systems and Processes for Learning from Serious Adverse Incidents (SAIs) in July 2022, the inquiry into Hyponatraemia-related Deaths (IHRD) report in January 2018 and the Independent Neurology Inquiry also in 2018 – that aspects of the current SAI procedure need to be refreshed and redesigned.
“I do not underestimate the magnitude of this task and recognise that cultural change takes time and is a continuous process,” said Northern Ireland health minister Mike Nesbitt.
“I believe it is essential that the voices of all those affected are at the heart of the Patient Safety Incident review process and their experiences must be sought out and valued as trusted sources of information on patient safety, and as partners in service delivery,” he continued.
Aims of the new draft framework include providing a more streamlined and simplified process for reviewing patient safety incidents and a focus on understanding how and why they have occurred.
The consultation will close on 6 June.
