Patient Safety - NatPSAs
There are a range of national bodies and teams that issue safety communications to healthcare providers about risks of serious harm to patients. In the past this has been done through a variety of means such as alerts, messages and notices. The National Patient Safety Alerting Committee (NaPSAC) was established to improve the effectiveness of these safety critical communications and to support providers to better implement the required actions. The key way NaPSAC is doing this is through National Patient Safety Alerts (NatPSAs).
NatPSAs are alerts issued by the Central Alerting System that require action to be taken by healthcare providers to reduce the risk of death or disability. They are developed from new or under-recognised patient safety issues which are identified through clinical review of incidents or via the national incident reporting service, as well as other sources.
Providers are required to review their systems for implementing the actions required by NatPSAs. This includes revising policies, processes and governance systems to meet the management and oversight requirements for the implementation of these alerts. NatPSAs typically require action to be centrally coordinated on behalf of the whole organisation, rather than by multiple individual teams, divisions or directorates.
CQC inspection will focus on implementation of NatPSAs, with the potential for regulatory actions for non-compliance.
As an ICB we must ensure that local mechanisms exist to support compliance with the actions required in National PSAs, in line with the NHS Standard Contract and the NHS Patient Safety Strategy.
