Incident reporting

All licensed private health facilities are required to have a written incident management system outlining the procedures to be followed in the case of an incident or adverse event.

In accordance with the legislation, licensed private health facilities are required to report any adverse event to the Regulation and Compliance Unit at the Ministry of Health.

Adverse event means an unintended injury to a patient, or a complication caused by the health care management of a patient, that results in a major permanent loss of function (being sensory, motor, physiological or psychological) for the patient or death of the patient.

Reportable incidents and investigation

Under the private health facility legislation a reportable incident is defined in Appendix D of the NSW Ministry of Health Incident Management Policy - PD2020_047 .

The licensee of a private health facility must advise the Regulation and Compliance Unit of all reportable incidents within 2 working days of the incident’s occurrence.

The licensee must appoint one or more assessors to carry out a preliminary risk assessment of the incident if:

• the licensee is of the opinion that the incident is (or may be) a reportable incident, or
• the incident is not a reportable incident but may be the result of a serious systemic problem and the licensee is of the opinion that a preliminary risk assessment of the incident should be carried out.

A licensee is required to appoint a serious adverse event review team under section 46 of the Private Health Facilities Act 2007  for any reportable incident. It is also a requirement that the licensee must, within 30 days after being provided with an incident report from the serious adverse event review team, forward a copy of the report to the Secretary.