Best Practice in Incident Review

Healthcare organisations in Ireland are expected to investigate incidents in a fair, transparent, and learning-focused manner. Training helps staff understand governance obligations, improve patient safety practices, and support compliance with HSE and regulatory frameworks.

This course is relevant for healthcare managers, clinicians, risk managers, patient safety officers, complaints handlers, HR professionals, and staff involved in reviewing or investigating healthcare incidents.

Incidents requiring review can include patient safety events, medication errors, clinical care issues, safeguarding concerns, data breaches, workplace accidents, and near misses that may indicate wider systemic risks.

A systems-based approach focuses on identifying organisational or process weaknesses rather than assigning individual blame. This supports a culture of learning, accountability, and continuous improvement within healthcare services.

Incident reviews typically involve gathering evidence, interviewing relevant individuals, analysing root causes or contributing factors, documenting findings, and making recommendations to improve future practice.

An incident review is generally focused on learning and patient safety improvement, whereas a disciplinary investigation examines potential misconduct or breaches of workplace policies by an individual employee.

Effective reviews help organisations identify recurring risks, strengthen procedures, improve communication, and implement corrective actions that enhance the quality and safety of patient care.

Yes. Incident reviews often involve sensitive patient and staff information, so organisations must manage records carefully and comply with GDPR and healthcare confidentiality obligations.

Participants typically develop skills in investigation techniques, root cause analysis, interviewing, evidence assessment, report writing, risk management, and communicating findings appropriately.