Quality lines
Incident reporting and feedback to improve care systems
Effective incident reporting and feedback systems in healthcare are essential if organizations are to learn from failure. A report in this issue of QSHC analyses patterns in the reporting of patient safety incidents from all acute hospitals in England to the NPSA National Reporting and Learning System. Reporting rates increased steadily over the observation period and were correlated with safety culture. A separate report reviews the relevant literature and expertise in healthcare and industry reporting systems to establish a basis for closing the safety feedback loop. Closing the loop involves implementing effective corrective actions in addition to the broad dissemination of information to …
