Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) Compliant Software

The PSIRF is a vital part of the NHS Patient Safety Strategy, which aims to continually improve and build on the foundations of a safer culture and safer systems. The Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) has replaced the Serious Incident Framework (SIF) and organisations were expected to transition by Autumn 2023.

So what exactly is the PSIRF? It removes the definition of a serious incident and instead just focuses on patient safety incidents. It isn’t an investigation framework like the SIF, instead it:

• Prioritises compassion and engagement with people involved in patient safety incidents through a data-driven approach
• Focuses on improvement in responding to patient safety incidents including shifting cultures to a wider systematic patient safety management
• Emphasises more compassionate engagement with patients, families, and staff affected by patient safety incidents, supporting empathetic communication, safe dialogue, and collaborative learning

The PSIRF is mandatory for any services under the NHS Standard Contract. This includes acute, ambulance, mental health, community healthcare, maternity and specialised services.

Secondary care providers that aren’t NHS trusts are expected to apply the PSIRF, but may not need to complete the entire analysis for patient safety incident response planning. Instead, processes like stakeholder engagement in preparing plans will be expected.

Primary care services are not required to implement the PSIRF, instead, it is optional. If they choose to, they should work with their integrated care board (ICB).

Successful implementation of PSIRF is essential for compliance with regulatory standards and achieving organisational goals.

As part of the PSIRF, PSIIs or Patient Safety Incident Investigations are carried out to improve systems. They involve investigating patient safety incidents to pinpoint both how and why they happen.

Patient safety incident investigation under PSIRF emphasises system-based learning and the implementation of learning responses to ensure meaningful improvements in patient safety.

Data collection and analysis play a large part in helping to identify underlying system-based causes. Once identified, improvement plans are put in place to address these system issues and improve patient safety in the National Health Service

The NHS provides tools and methods for PSII, including incident mapping worksheets and contributing factors classification.

The key components include:

• Incident Reporting: Encouraging transparent reporting of incidents.
• Investigation: Conducting thorough investigations to identify root causes.
• Learning: Drawing insights to implement preventive measures.
• Feedback: Providing feedback to staff and stakeholders for continuous improvement.
• Oversight roles and strengthening response: Establishing clear oversight roles, focused on strengthening response and strengthening response system functioning, to ensure effective governance, accountability, and continuous improvement in patient safety incident management.

PSIRF offers several benefits, including:

• Enhanced Patient Safety: Reducing risks and preventing incidents.
• Improved Organisational Culture: Promoting a safety-first mindset.
• Continuous Improvement: Learning from incidents to refine practices.
• Regulatory Compliance: Meeting NHS standards and requirements.
• Effective and continuous learning: Fostering a culture of continuous learning and effective learning, in which understanding the causes of incidents leads to a safer care system through ongoing reflection and improvement.

The Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) is an approach to responding to patient safety incidents.

NHS organisations in England have been implementing the framework since September 2023 and, as part of this, each trust is required to create and publish a Patient Safety Incident Response Plan (PSIRP).

You can find a list of all PSIRP plans on the Patient Safety Learning Hub’s website.

View PSIRP plans here 

For further information about the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF), including the involvement of those affected by patient safety incidents, NHS England provides a short video and additional resources.