COVID-19 has created an extra workload for all health and social care providers. Whether you're an NHS organisation , care home or an independent provider .

All healthcare professionals will have felt the pinch during the pandemic.

As restrictions lift some of the previous workload may re-appear. As well as more work generated by COVID-19.

This may include investigating patient safety incidents and more safeguarding concerns. 

What is a COVID-19 related patient safety incident

• Indirect deaths/deterioration arising from delayed diagnosis and/or treatment.

• Healthcare professionals having had to take critical clinical decisions

• Incidents arising from staff having to work outside their area of competence

• Safeguarding concerns

• Disputes about the care and treatment of vulnerable elderly people

The new Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) will be

‘ A key part of any future Patient Safety Strategy’ 

The key changes to the framework are as follows:

• Patient safety incident investigation’ replaces the term ‘root cause analysis’ (RCA)



• Investigate Serious incidents using a 'systems-based' approach

• Use of the new contributory factors framework

• Clinical audits or reviews will suffice for less serious incidents

• Investigators should be ‘trained’

• Organisations should establish an effective patient safety reporting learning and improvement system.

As we sort through the COVID-19 incidents we will need to separate the ‘serious’ from the ‘less serious’ .

So getting to grips with the new tools early will be helpful.

This approach may be new to your organisation and you need some support.

Advanced Clinical Solutions work with several organisations

to up-skill staff in how to perform patient safety investigations. Also we are often called upon to perform independent patient safety investigations

If you would like to know more about our Patient Safety  and Safeguarding Services

Book a free consultation with our Patient Safety Lead here