Evaluating new guidance for involving patients and families in SIIs

• Research type

  Research Study

• Full title

  Evaluation of new guidance to support more meaningful involvement of patients and families in serious incident investigations: an observational study.

• IRAS ID

  301380

• Contact name

  Jane K O'Hara

• Contact email

  jane.o'hara@bthft.nhs.uk

• Sponsor organisation

  Bradford Institute for Health Research

• Duration of Study in the UK

  1 years, 0 months, 1 days

• Research summary

  Reported serious incidents (severe harm or death) are estimated to total around 10,000 annually, and have enormous and increasing costs associated with litigation. There is a recognised need to improve the process of learning from serious incidents to reduce incidence, and thus litigation costs. NHS Resolution posit that involving patients and families earlier in investigations will reduce costs of administering claims, as well as divert claims pursued for explanation. Other policy and regulatory organisations have proposed greater involvement of patients and families in serious incident investigations to support better learning. However, there is currently no UK-based evidence to guide organisations in how to involve patients and families meaningfully in serious incident investigations either to support learning, or to reduce the likelihood of seeking legal recourse.

  In this ethnographic study we will work with NHS acute Trusts (n = 2), NHS mental health Trusts (n = 2) and the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch (HSIB) to implement co-produced guidance about how to include patients and/or their families in serious incident investigations (n = 25 investigations in total). We aim to explore the feasibility of the guidance when used during live investigations, the acceptability for patients, families, staff, investigators and other key stakeholders, and whether the guidance has any impact on subsequent decisions to litigate. Data from this study will be used to guide the development and dissemination of the final guidance to support patient and family involvement in serious incident investigations, which is the final stage of the wider project.

• REC name

  Wales REC 6

• REC reference

  21/WA/0287

• Date of REC Opinion

  20 Sep 2021

• REC opinion

  Favourable Opinion