The deadline for implementing the new Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) is quickly approaching, and you have until Autumn 2023 to complete the transition.
Radar Healthcare is here to help you in implementing PSIRF successfully. With our LFPSE-compliant software, which is packed with AI to help you teams in tracking, recording and learning from incidents to drive continuous learning and to improve patient safety.
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) is replacing the Serious Incident Framework (SIF) and organisations are 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:
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).
Choose the most appropriate learning response method for the incident involved – all learning response methods can be implemented using our events module.
Bespoke workflow processes (specific to the incident type) are triggered to notify the right people. This allows appropriate responses to be taken and feedback to be given to patients, families and staff involved.
Are you learning? If not, go back and change the workflow process easily and simply. This is a straightforward step with the flexibility of Radar Healthcare.
Continuous learning means evolving workflows and processes. Radar Healthcare offers a flexible solution now and in the future to help you to achieve positive patient outcomes.
Our Chief Product Officer Mark Fewster met with Patient Safety Learning’s Chief Executive Helen Hughes to get the lowdown on NHS England’s Patient Safety Incident Response Framework. Watch our podcast to find out how this is going to drive an open and just culture, what can be expected after the transition, and why the implementation process is key in PSIRF’s success.
PSIRF has a broader scope and focuses more on preventing incidents from occurring, while the SIF (Serious Incident Framework) primarily focused on managing serious incidents after they had already occurred.
The PSIRF is designed to improve patient safety and encourage a learning culture within the NHS by providing a more comprehensive approach to incident management. It includes a wider range of incidents that need to be reported, including those that do not result in harm to patients but have the potential to do so. The PSIRF also places a greater emphasis on the importance of learning from incidents and implementing changes to prevent similar incidents from occurring in the future.
As part of the PSIRF, the 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.
Data collection and analysis play a large part to help identify underlying system-based causes. Once identified, improvement plans are put in place to address these system issues and therefore help improve patient safety in the National Health Service.
The NHS provides tools and methods for PSII including incident mapping worksheets and contributing factors classification.
Between March 2020 and June 2022, the NHS worked with a small number of early adopters to pilot the framework in their organisations by creating Patient Safety Incident Response Plans (PSIRP). These early adopters were in each region of NHS England and worked with the NHS and one national organisation to trial PSIRF.
Early adopters include:
For a full list, take a look at the NHS website.
