Professionals and Practitioners

Adult Services Procedures 16/11, 17/11 and 18/11

Incident management

The following procedures form a suite of three incident management procedures which sit within Care Governance Arrangements:

  • 16/11 Critical Incident Reporting and Investigation
  • 17/11 Incident Reporting and Investigation
  • 18/11 Guidelines for staff writing witness statements or giving evidence in court following a critical incident.

They describe the Department’s requirements in relation to the reporting of all accidents and incidents and any subsequent investigation procedures.

Root Cause Analysis Training

In order to support senior managers to carry out critical incident investigations and internal management reviews training in root cause analysis, investigation techniques and report writing will be available via the Learning Zone from July 2011. DMT have agreed this training is essential for senior managers to attend during 2011/12.

16/11 Critical Incident Reporting & investigation

This procedure describes and defines what critical incidents are, how critical incidents will be reported, the requirement for senior managers and designated staff from Hampshire County Council Adult Services Department and partner organisations to investigate using root cause analysis tools and methods.

It further describes how critical incidents will be monitored and reported to Care Governance and DMT, so that learning and preventative measures can be put in place and the service improved where needed. It sets out the requirements for reporting critical incidents to national organisations and partners such as Care Quality Commission (CQC), Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and the Police.

In addition where serious incidents have occurred but do not meet the criteria for a critical incident investigation or review, this procedure sets out the requirements for an internal management review to ensure learning for teams and the organisation.

 

17/11 Incident Reporting & Investigation

This procedure describes the departments requirements in relation to reporting all incidents and accidents.

It defines what an incident is, how staff can report incidents, the requirements for managers to conduct investigations, how they are monitored and how any learning for staff and the organisation is put into practice.

 

18/11 Guidelines for staff writing witness statements or giving evidence in court following a critical incident

This procedure describes the responsibility of managers, and contains guidance for all staff in preparing and compiling a witness statement, actions to be taken by staff on being summonsed to appear in court, advice on how staff should conduct themselves during a court appearance, and the support available to staff involved in legal proceedings.

Following a critical incident, any member of staff working within Adult Services could find themselves involved in litigation, and be asked to either provide a witness testimony of an incident, or to appear in court and give evidence as a witness to the incident. Staff may also be called upon to give expert evidence as to best practice. This can be a very stressful time for anyone involved, and so this procedure aims to provide information to guide and support staff and managers through the process.