Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PISRF)

Every day more than a million people are treated safely in the NHS. Occasionally, things do not go as planned, 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 physical and or psychological harm for one or more patients receiving healthcare, and can range in scale from the most minor to catastrophic.

QEH will implement the NHS Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PISRF) from 1 September 2023. This document explains the way that patient safety incidents are responded to and how learning responses are undertaken in NHS funded care.

QEH has developed a Patient Safety Incident Response Plan (PSIRP) which has allowed us to identify our safety priorities for this year, which will help us to respond to incidents proportionately and to the required standards so that learning and improves patient safety. We will always be open and honest about incidents that have occurred. In the NHS, this is known as Duty of Candour. If it is believed that something has gone wrong during your care you will be informed of this and given an apology as soon as possible.

A short video, produced by Healthwatch Norfolk and filmed at our hospital, can be found here to explain more about this and most importantly the benefits to patients;

Please select the following pdf link: QEH Patient Safety Incident Response Plan 2023/25 for additional information on how we've implemented PSIRF.