Improving patients’ safety: the national reporting and learning system
goes live
At the heart of the National Patient Safety Agency’s work is the database
of reports from healthcare organisations in England and Wales about
incidents that have either harmed patients or compromised their safety while
in NHS care. Clive Flashman, the Agency’s Head of Knowledge and
Information Management, describes the purpose of the database and how
entries are made, stored and used.
abstract
The remit of the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) is to identify
common risks to patients’ safety and help NHS organisations develop
preventative measures. Its national reporting and learning system has been
set up to facilitate national learning about unsafe practices and foster
work to reduce adverse incidents.
The system is now being rolled out across the NHS in England and Wales,
enabling organisations to submit reports electronically to the NPSA. These
reports are based on a dataset developed with wide input from NHS
organisations, clinicians and healthcare statisticians. Reports are received
via NHSnet from established local risk-management systems already in use in
NHS organisations or directly via a web-based electronic reporting form.
Reports of incidents that harm or could have harmed patients are stored
in a confidential and anonymous national database. Reports are then
aggregated and analysed with expert clinical and statistical input to help
understand the frequency of types of hazards and their underlying
contributory factors.
Br J Healthcare Comput Info Manage 2004; 21(5): 20–2 |
