Every day more than a million people are treated safely in the NHS. Occasionally, things go wrong, or an unexpected event occurs. These are known as patient safety incidents.
A patient safety incident is any unintended or unexpected incident which could have, or did, lead to harm for one or more patients receiving healthcare, and can range in scale from the most minor to the other end of the scale.
To help ensure we learn and improve following a patient safety incident, and to work better with parents and families when things go wrong, East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust has launched the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework, or PSIRF.
The Trust implemented PSIRF from 1 October 2023.
The Trust’s Patient Safety Incident Response Plan
Guidance and support
We are in the process of developing guidance and support for those patients who may be affected by a patient safety incident whilst in our care. These will be added to this page in the coming weeks.
More information
Developed nationally to respond more effectively to patient safety incidents, PSIRF will replace the current Serious Incident Framework (2015) and represents a significant shift in the way the NHS responds to patient safety incidents. It supports the development and maintenance of an effective patient safety incident response system that integrates four key aims:
- Compassionate engagement and involvement of those affected by patient safety incidents.
- Application of a range of system-based approaches to learning from patient safety incidents
- Considered and proportionate responses to patient safety incidents
- Supportive oversight focused on strengthening response system functioning and improvement.
Watch: This video from NHS England introduces the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF)
The framework will see the Trust move away from the Serious Incident Framework, to a new approach to incident management.
The introduction of PSIRF forms part of our commitment to developing a just and learning culture, building openness and transparency, ensuring everyone is treated fairly and that we learn from any errors.
