Patient Safety

The York Medical Practice

Our Approach to Responding to Patient Safety Incidents

At The York Medical Practice, patient safety is a core priority. We are committed to providing safe, high-quality care and to responding openly and effectively when things do not go as planned.

We recognise that patient safety incidents can occur in any healthcare setting. Our focus is on understanding what happened, supporting those affected, and learning to improve our systems and processes.

Our Patient Safety Culture

We promote a supportive, learning and just culture where staff feel able to report concerns, incidents and near misses without fear of blame. This helps us identify risks early and continually improve patient safety.

Reporting Patient Safety Incidents

All staff are expected to report patient safety incidents and near misses. Incidents are recorded on our practice incident reporting system and shared with the national Learn from Patient Safety Events (LFPSE) service to support wider NHS learning.

How We Respond to Incidents

Our response to patient safety incidents follows national Patient Safety Incident Response Framework (PSIRF) principles. This means we:

• prioritise the safety and wellbeing of patients and staff
• consider the needs of those affected
• review incidents proportionately to risk and severity
• focus on understanding how and why incidents occurred
• identify system improvements rather than individual blame

Involving Patients and Families

When a patient is affected by a safety incident, we are committed to being open and honest. We will:

• explain what has happened
• offer an apology where appropriate
• involve patients or families in understanding the incident
• share learning and actions taken

Learning and Improvement

We review patient safety incidents through our clinical governance processes, including significant event reviews and team learning discussions. Learning is shared across the practice and used to improve systems, training and procedures.

Governance and Oversight

Patient safety is overseen by the practice leadership team. Trends and themes from incidents are reviewed regularly to identify improvement priorities and ensure actions are implemented.

Continuous Improvement

We are committed to continuous improvement in patient safety and align our approach with NHS England’s Primary Care Patient Safety Strategy and the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework.