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Learning from adverse events through reporting and review – A national framework for Scotland

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Document Type

Process guidance

Summary

Health and social care services in Scotland aim to provide high quality care that is:

  • safe

  • effective and

  • person-centred

This is a complex system and adverse events occur that do, or could have, a major effect on the people involved.

Each of these events should be regarded as an opportunity to learn and to improve. This helps increase the safety of our care system for everyone.

The following national framework provides an overarching approach. Developed from best practice it supports care providers to manage adverse events.

The fourth edition of the framework document integrates the instruction that NHS boards must notify Healthcare Improvement Scotland of all significant adverse event reviews (SAERs) commissioned from January 2020.

We have also created a data guidance document to support NHS boards.

It provides guidance on the specific dataset that we require for the national notification system.

The aim is to ensure consistency of data submitted in relation to:

  • process

  • terminology

  • quality