Serious Incidents (FOI)

Request

A

Please provide the number of serious incident reports lodged, broken down on a monthly basis from January 2019 to-date.

B

Please provide the number of these reports which have been fully investigated in each month.

C

Please provide the number if [sic] incidents which have yet to be investigated in each month.

D

Provide the number of incidents which remained uninvestigated for longer than 60 days after being reported.

E

Provide the number of outstanding incidents awaiting investigation

Response

Please see the attached tables for all data requested. Figures for Serious Incidents from 2018 where investigations were concluded in 2019 have not been included in this data.

Health and Community Services’ Quarterly Serious Incident Reports for January 2019 to March 2021 have previously been provided in response to a Freedom of Information request, published July 2021:

Quarterly serious incident reports (FOI)

Numbers by month may vary from previously released data, as reporting methodology has changed from reporting of the incident date, to the date when the Serious Incident investigation was commissioned. This change has been implemented as Serious Incidents may not be identified as such immediately, and the previous methodology was skewing reported figures. The change to reporting methodology has not affected end of year numbers. 

Health and Community Services (HCS) are committed to improving organisational accountability, learning and transparency. HCS continually strive to provide an environment where staff are enabled and supported in escalating concerns for investigation. Policies outlining responsibility and reporting mechanisms are available to all staff. More recently, Governance Leads have been introduced to the Care Groups and facilitate incident reporting and investigation. 

A

Reports lodged – Month reported.

Table A.pdf

B

Number of Serious Incident investigations completed in specified month.

Table B.pdf

The figures provided in the following tables in response to Questions C and E represent those cases where investigations are yet to be concluded. 

The outstanding case for 2021 noted in both tables relates to an external investigation. The delay is as a result of waiting for availability of a specialist team from the appropriate regulatory body.

C

Number of incidents still in progress by month lodged.

Table C.pdf

D

Number of Serious Incident investigations taking more than 60 days to complete.

Table D.pdf

Investigations are initiated promptly whenever a Serious Incident is reported. As such, there are zero Serious Incidents un-investigated.

The standard for internally investigated Serious Incidents is 60 working days, however, many investigations are completed externally and the standard for this is 6 months. In line with the new National Standard being launched, more emphasis is placed on the quality of reports rather than meeting strict timescales:

Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (England.nhs.uk)

E

Number of Serious Incident investigations yet to be concluded.

Table E.pdf