REPORTING OF INCIDENTS – RESPONSIBILIITES OF FRONT LINE STAFF

Introduction

A new policy and procedure for the reporting of incidents and accidents will soon be introduced to The Mungo Foundation. Whilst it defines the procedure for reporting and investigating incidents and accidents more clearly than previous versions, it does not change the responsibility that everyone has, as employees of The Mungo Foundation, to accurately and promptly report and record incidents.

Employees of The Mungo Foundation are expected to fully cooperate with their employer to ensure that statutory and legal obligations are met. These include, but are not limited to, the notification of significant events to our regulators The Care Inspectorate and commissioners of our services. In order that managers can complete this process within the timescales set by the Care Inspectorate and commissioners it is a duty of all employees to ensure that all incidents are reported to a manager without delay and that the organisational incident report form is completed and submitted in line with the stated procedure. Failure to adhere to our statutory and legal obligations may result in prosecution for the organisation, of individual staff and/or disciplinary action being taken against employees. Failure to follow the Incident Reporting Procedure may result in disciplinary action against employees.

Definitions

Incident forms should be completed for the following circumstances

An Incident – all circumstances leading to or causing a work-related accident, work-related ill health, a near miss situation, specific types of disease or dangerous occurrences. or ‘‘a significant event which demands a response beyond the routine’

A near miss is a type of incident- “An event or occurrence which but for skilful management or a fortunate turn of events, would have led to harm, loss or damage.”

A Work-Related Accident – ‘any event that results in injury or leads to ill-health or people, or damages equipment, property or materials but where there is harm’ source HSE

A Specific Notifiable Disease –are related to particular work activities. For example you need to report a case of infection only when you can reliably attribute it to the work that a person does. Infections which could have been acquired equally easily at work or in the community are not reportable.

A Dangerous Occurrence – is a specified event which maynot result in a reportable injury, but has the potential todo significant harm e.g. the collapse, overturning or failure of load-bearingparts of lifts and lifting equipment etc.

Safeguarding Incidents - the Adult Support and Protection (ASP) Act states harm

includes all harmful conduct/incidents and in particular includes;

  • Conduct or incidents which cause or could cause physical harm or danger (medication error, physical assault, poor support and care, neglect etc)
  • Conduct which causes psychological harm (for example by causing fear, alarm or distress)
  • Unlawful conduct which appropriates or adversely affects property, rights or interests (for example: theft, fraud, embezzlement or extortion)
  • Conduct which causes self-harm

In addition to the above categories The Mungo Foundation has decided that an Incident Report Form must also be completed where incidents occur in relation to support and care issues and which may also involve those who use our services. This includes, but is not limited to, medication errors, self injurious behaviour, incidents of harm or potential harm, behaviour out of character, assault in a service user by another service user, misuse of medication, losses or theft of money or belongings, unplanned restraint or physical intervention towards a service user.

All of the above require to be reported to a supervisor, manager or on call manager without delay and an incident form completed and submitted within the set timescales. Providing accurate and prompt information allows managers to make the required notifications to regulators and commissioners. If you are in any doubt as to whether an incident report form requires to be completed or require to seek guidance on the completion of the form then you should contact a supervisor or manager for advice.

Seeking appropriate advice and support

At times it may be necessary for staff to contact professionals and officials out with The Mungo Foundation. Whilst this should be reported to a supervisor, manager or on call manager this should not delay contact being made in an emergency situation, for example to seek urgent medical attention for a serious health issue or injury or contacting the police in an emergency situation. Staff also need to be confident and proactive in seeking medical advice for injuries or health concerns of a non-emergency nature by, for example, contacting NHS24 or the individual’s GP.

Completion of The Incident Report Form

It is the responsibility of front line staff to report incidents to their line manager or on call manager before the end of their working shift or before leaving the work setting.

Where it is not possible or practical to report an incident in this way then the employee or someone acting on their behalf, must contact the line manager or on call manager the following day and give details of the incident. The verbal report must be followed up by the submission of a completed Incident Report Form to the manager or on call manager at weekends or during public holidays.

Full details of the reporting procedure can be found in the Incident Reporting Policy.

A flowchart of action to be taken following an incident can be found in this handbook. In addition, the incident reporting and management process for the organisation has been provided for your information.

Failure to adhere to the organisation’s policy on incident reporting or to seek suitable intervention from outside agencies, for example regarding health or public order issues, may lead to disciplinary action in accordance with organisational disciplinary procedures.

Issued May 2012