NHS East Midlands has a policy in place to manage the reporting and investigation of serious incidents in line with national guidance. This policy, which is also available on the website requires all NHS organisations across the East Midlands to report serious incidents to the Strategic Health Authority using a national electronic information system called STEIS (Strategic Executive Information System).
When incidents are logged onto STEIS they are assigned a category. A serious incident is defined as:
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An accident or incident resulting in serious injury, major permanent harm or death (or the risk of) to a patient, member of staff, or member of the public, as a result of NHS funded health care, or;
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Where actions of health service staff are likely to cause significant public concern, or;
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Any event that might adversely impact upon the delivery of service plans and/or may reflect a serious breach of standards or quality of service.
One of the categories for reporting serious incidents is ‘confidential information leaks’ and all NHS organisations should report on STEIS all actual or potential breaches of confidential patient information.
NHS East Midlands ensures that these incidents are managed and investigated and where appropriate, action taken and lessons shared.
In line with national guidance, NHS East Midlands will begin to publish the information below for each quarter.
