Serious Incidents Reporting Policy

Policy Statement

This policy describes the procedures for reporting in any serious incident occurring in {{org_field_name}}.

{{org_field_name}} describes an “incident” as an unexpected event, something that occurs in passing or out of the ordinary course of events. It accepts that many incidents are unremarkable and are not concerning, but some are, and they need to be reported and recorded by the care staff involved. This policy sets out the types of incident that must be reported and why and describes the actions that follow.

From its understanding of its statutory requirements, {{org_field_name}} works on the basis that any incident occurring during the delivery of a care service that puts people and/or care providers at risk of being injured or harmed or causes actual injury or harm must be reported and recorded so that it can be investigated. All reported incidents will be investigated and reviewed internally and the more serious will need to be referred to relevant external bodies in line with established notification procedures as set out below.

Range of Incidents to be Reported

In care work, incidents can affect either people receiving care and care staff, and sometimes both. Common incidents that must be reported include the following.

Accidents: to either or both people using the services/staff — such as falls, trips, knocks and impact accidents, and spillages of hazardous substances, which either cause injury or harm or could have caused injury or harm had they been more serious or eventful. (See policies on Accident Reporting and Accidents and Emergencies for procedures involved.)

Near misses: are potential accidents or the results of human error that do not necessarily result in harm or injury but could have resulted in harm or injury under different circumstances. (Near misses are included in the above policies but could be reported separately as described below.)

Behaviour: that causes harm or puts people at risk of being harmed, including abusive, aggressive or violent behaviour directed at people receiving care or care staff.

Restraints and restrictive practices: any incident involving the restraining of a person or subjecting them to some form of restrictive practice should be reported and recorded to enable the matter to be investigated.

Medication errors: these must be reported to enable the matters to be investigated and corrective actions taken. Medication errors will be treated as safeguarding issues and safeguarding procedures will apply. (See Drug/Medicines Errors (Identifying, Reporting and Reviewing Medicines-related Problems) Policy.)

Reporting Procedures

Accidents

These should be initially reported on the Accident Reporting Form and/or recorded in the Accidents Book (or electronic equivalent) which collates the different accidents occurring in the service. Some accidents that meet RIDDOR criteria will need to be reported to the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and might need to be notified to the Care Qualification Commission (CQC) under its notification procedures described in the Care Quality Commission (Registration) Regulations 2009.

All reported accidents should be investigated internally and made subject to regular management review under its auditing procedures.

Near misses

These are incidents that could have had serious or even catastrophic consequences and should be reported so that they can be investigated, and actions taken to prevent any recurrence or minimise the risks of their recurring..

Abusive and violent behaviour

Abuse of people receiving care

Care staff should report and record any alleged, suspected or actual abuse of a person in line with the service’s safeguarding policy and procedures so that the appropriate safeguarding actions can be taken.

Abuse of staff

Staff safety is covered by the Health and Safety at Work, etc Act 1974 and the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999.

Care staff should report and record, as a health and safety issue, any incident of abusive, aggressive and violent behaviour directed at them from any source, eg people who use the services, relatives and others, so that appropriate actions can be taken in line with health and safety requirements.

Acts of physical violence resulting in serious injury should be reported to the HSE under RIDDOR. In some cases, the police might need to be involved. If appropriate, service commissioners might need to be involved in further decisions about the service provision.

Restraints and restrictive practices reporting

Any incident involving the physical restraint of a person, eg as a protective measure, must be reported and recorded. Any use of restraint and restrictive measures are potential safeguarding matters to be discussed with the local safeguarding authority and notified to the CQC, depending on the results of any investigation/review.

Medication errors

Medication errors, which are identified in line with the safe administration of medication policy, should be reported using a separate form so that they can be investigated with the appropriate corrective actions taken.

Care staff must report any mistake made/observed in the administration of a medicine so that the issue can be investigated to reduce risks of recurrence and as a potential safeguarding issue. The issues are covered by Regulation 12: Safe Care and Treatment of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, and NICE guidelines for care homes (2014) or home care (2016).

Training

All staff must be trained in the different serious incidents reporting procedures and receive help as required to complete the relevant forms and be involved in the subsequent investigations and reviews.

Responsible Person: {{org_field_registered_manager_first_name}} {{org_field_registered_manager_last_name}}

Reviewed on: {{last_update_date}}

Next review date: this policy is reviewed annualy (every 12 months). When needed, this policy is also updated in response to changes in legislation, regulation, best practices, or organisational changes.

S173. Serious Incidents Reporting