This workshop addresses two of the most important components of a risk management and clinical governance framework in any health service. Incident management is a systematic process for identifying, notifying, prioritising, investigating and managing the outcomes of an incident and acting to prevent recurrence. Complaints handling relates to the ways in which complaints are acknowledged, treated and acted upon to ensure that systems are improved and the complainant is satisfied that their voice has been heard.
A further key strategy and philosophy that is essential for effective incident and complaints management is the open disclose of adverse events when they occur.
Open disclosure (OD) is a transparent approach to responding to an incident / adverse event that places the consumer / resident central to the response. This includes the process of open discussion and ongoing communication with the consumer / resident and their support person(s). An OD approach also includes support for staff and the development of an OD culture where staff are confident that the associated investigations will have a quality improvement rather than a punitive focus
