Incident Reporting

Excel EMS is committed to the establishment of a supportive, open and learning culture that encourages staff to report incidents and near misses through the appropriate channels.

The aim is not to apportion blame but rather to learn from incidents and near misses and improve practice accordingly.

All staff within Excel EMS have a responsibility to ensure that they report any incident or near misses they have been involved in or witnessed.

• To check system failures.
• To establish the facts of each incident.
• To improve patient care and services.
• To establish controls to prevent recurrence.
• To identify underlying trends and their causes.
• It is a legal requirement.
• To develop mode is of good practice.

An untoward incident can be:

• an event that results in or had the potential to result in any level of injury or ill health
• an event that results in an unexpected outcome
• an event that interrupts normal procedure
• an event that damages Excel EMS' reputation.
• 
  

Some examples of the most commonly reported incidents are:

• Medication Errors
• Patient Accidents, such as Slips, Trips, Falls
• Incorrect Use or Failure of Medical Devices
• Staff Health& Safety Incidents
• Information Security Incidents

All untoward incidents should be reported via the Electronic Incident Reporting System (Found on the Excel EMS HUB - Homepage) within 24 hours of the incident occurrence.

Serious incidents whereby severe/ major harm has been caused must also be reported immediately to the Duty Manager/ Event Manager/ On Call Manger

The NPSA has published a guide for staff and organisations for improving patient safety called ‘Seven Steps to Patient Safety’:

• Step 1: Build a Safety Culture – create a culture that is open and fair
• Step 2: Lead and Support your Staff – establish a clear and strong focus on patient safety throughout your organisation
• Step 3: Integrate your Risk Management Activity – develop systems and processes to manage your risks and identify and assess things that could go wrong
• Step 4: Promote Reporting – ensure your staff can easily report incidents locally and nationally
• Step 5: Involve and Communicate with Patients and the Public – develop ways to communicate openly with and listen to patients
• Step 6: Learn and Share Safety Lessons – encourage staff to use root cause analysis to learn how and why incidents happen Step
• 7: Implement Solutions to Prevent Harm – embed lessons through changes to practice, processes or systems.

Patient safety is not just for clinical staff. Patient safety is affected by systems and processes as well as specific clinical care, for example

• An incorrectly typed or addressed referral letter may mean a delay in diagnosis or treatment
• A poorly handled telephone call may result in a patient not seeking help when they need it
• A box, trolley or piece of equipment left unattended in an inappropriate place could result in someone falling over it

Excel EMS aims to take all reasonable steps in the management of risk with the overall objective of protecting patients, staff and assets.

A primary concern is the provision of safer, risk-free environments together with working policies and practices, which take into account assessed risks.

When things are identified as not safe and pose a risk to our patients, they need to be raised in an open and honest way.

Barriers to Reporting

It is crucially important that staff report all incidents near misses.

However, it is recognised that people can be reluctant to report events for several reasons:

• Fear of reprisals; lack of trust
• Additional burden of work - too busy
• Fear of exposure of weakness; lack of competence; suspension; litigation
• Loss of reputation; income or job
• Lack of action to stop things happening again.

WE NEED YOUR HELP TO MAKE PATIENT SAFETY HAPPEN