Single written channel for serious incident reports

Recommendation 12. We recommend that reports of serious untoward incidents to District and Regional Health Authorities should be made in writing and through a single channel which is known to all involved. We will shortly be writing to all Regional Directors requiring them to establish lines of reporting with Chief Executives of all NHS Trusts so that there can be swift and effective reporting of any such untoward incidents.

Since 2004, the NHS has operated a comprehensive national patient safety incident reporting system, initially the National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS) and now the Learn From Patient Safety Events (LFPSE) service. All provider patient safety incident records are collected by LFPSE and the data is available to Integrated Care Boards and NHS England. Provider incident responses should be consistent with the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework. The current overarching framework for the reporting of patient safety incidents is the Patient safety Incident Response Framework (2023).

In November 1994, the Secretary of State for Health said the Department of Health would shortly be writing to all regional directors requiring them to establish lines of reporting with chief executives of NHS trusts, so that there could be swift and effective reporting of any untoward incidents.