Reporting Serious Incidents that involve Doctors in Postgraduate Training

In the event of a Serious Incident the downloadable version of the attached form can be found and uploaded via Synapse - our secure communications network.  Please contact websupport@londondeanery.ac.uk if you do not have an account on Synapse.

A doctor in postgraduate training (DrPGT) could be implicated in the SI in a range of ways including:

• Present at the time but not directly involved in the SI
• Present at the time, not directly involved in the SI, but personally effected by the SI
• Involved but in a minor way e.g. as part of the team
• Directly implicated as contributing in the SI
• Directly implicated in the response to and management of the SI
• Or a combination of the above

Definition of a Serious Incident

A serious incident requiring investigation is defined as an incident that occurred in relation to NHS-funded services and care resulting in one of the following:

• Unexpected or avoidable death of one or more patients, staff, visitors or members of the public;
• Serious harm to one or more patients, staff, visitors or members of the public or where the outcome requires life-saving intervention, major surgical/medical intervention, permanent harm or will shorten life expectancy or result in prolonged pain or psychological harm (this includes incidents graded under the NPSA definition of severe harm);
• A scenario that prevents or threatens to prevent a provider organisation’s ability to continue to
  deliver healthcare services, for example, actual or potential loss of personal/organisational
  information, damage to property, reputation or the environment, or IT failure;
• Allegations of abuse;
• Cause public concern or risk to reputation of the organisation and the NHS as a whole;
• One of the core set of ‘Never Events’ as updated on an annual basis and currently including:

–– wrong site surgery
–– retained instrument post-operation
–– wrong route administration of chemotherapy
–– misplaced naso-gastric or orogastric tube not detected prior to use
–– inpatient suicide using non-collapsible rails
–– escape from within the secure perimeter of medium or high security mental health services by patients who are transferred prisoners
–– in-hospital maternal death from postpartum haemorrhage after elective caesarean section
–– intravenous administration of mis-selected concentrated potassium chloride

Supplementary terms

Incident – an event or circumstance that could have resulted, or did result, in unnecessary damage, loss or harm such as physical or mental injury to a patient, staff, visitors or members of the public.