Clinical Risk Assessments for Out of Hours Organisations

A systematic approach that identifies risk and develops practical solutions

Overview 

There are now national standards that OOH service providers have to meet, eg, the National Quality Requirements in the Delivery of Out of Hours Services.¹ These require providers to operate robust clinical governance systems and processes, which may be overlooked in a rapidly changing environment. Each change may create new dangers, and a key strategy for checking that systems are safe is to conduct a risk assessment to identify the potential pitfalls and develop strategies to prevent them.

The OOH risk assessment covers both operational and organisational aspects of an organisation and is carried out with reference to current guidance. It will:

• Help meet national standards
• Improve an organisation’s systems, the quality of care provided and help manage clinical risks
• Reduce the risk of harm to patients
• Reduce the likelihood of complaints and claims
• Improve communication within the team.

What does it involve?

We provide a report detailing our findings, which acknowledges the positive aspects of service provision, as well as the areas that could be improved

An OHH clinical risk assessment is undertaken over two days and involves:

• Discussions with key managerial staff
• A visit to OOH centres
• Confidential exploratory discussions with staff members from each discipline (eg, managerial staff, a doctor, a nurse, a call handler and a receptionist) in order to gain an insight into the working practices and perceived risks, both from an organisational and operational aspect 
• Completion of a staff patient safety culture survey, which helps identify the importance of patient safety within the organisation.

The survey is validated by York University – for more information on this validation click on the attachment on the right.

On completion of the Clinical Risk Assessment, we provide a report detailing our findings, which acknowledges the positive aspects of service provision, as well as the areas that could be improved. It includes recommendations on the areas of practice that fall short of current best practice, where there is non-compliance with national standards. Feedback regarding the patient safety survey is also provided, as well as a follow-up after 12 months.

Facilitators

MPS OOH risk assessment facilitators are trained and experienced professionals with a clinical background.

More information

For more information please see the attachment on the right. Alternatively contact MPS Educational Services on +44 (0)113 241 0359 or email education@mps.org.uk.

References 

1. NHS Executive (2004) National Quality Requirements in the Delivery of Out-of-Hours Services, Department of Health, London.