Incident and Risk Team

India Bowles

Claire Jennings

Stacey Baker

Rachel Zincir

Katarzyna Barton

• Provide training on the identification and accurate reporting of incidents onto the Trust’s incident management system.
• Provide training and advice on the appropriate risk methodology, including the identification, scoring and mitigation of operational risks.
• Facilitate learning and good practice through the dissemination of national Central Alerting System (CAS) alerts and internal Quality Practice Alerts (QPA)’s.
• Act as liaison between Mersey Care and third parties on all interface incidents.
• Report serious incidents to the Strategic Executive Information System (StEIS) on behalf of the Trust.
• Provide incident and risk management data for often complex FOI requests.
• Support the collation of Trustwide Incident and Risk Management reports through data extraction and analysis.
• Report on Trustwide Support Services Division Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) 

The Trust Risk Management Policy promotes a culture of Ward to Board risk management. Risks are identified and scored at a team and divisional level with staff working with identified risk leads in the divisions. Each division reviews and provides oversight of the risks through a number of governance forums such has Divisional Safety Huddles.  Risks are also reviewed through a Trust wide Risk Management Group and referenced in a monthly risk report which is presented to the Board’s sub committees. Any risk that reached an extreme level (15 or above) are also place into the Board Assurance Framework (BAF) and reviewed by the Trust Board and the Executive Safety Huddle.

• Risk Management Strategy
• Risk Management Policy                                            
• New Risk Template

Radar incident management training

The incident and risk management team can provide guidance and support on the data quality aspects of the Radar incident and risk management reporting system. 

If you have any queries or comments about the quality of the data you are accessing on the Radar system, including to discuss or request training with the team please contact incidentandriskteam@merseycare.nhs.uk.

For all Radar system support needs (i.e. how to use the  system and queries on the reporting form fields) please contact Informatics Merseyside via the resources portal.

Quality Practice Alerts (QPA’s) are a fast, efficient, and dynamic communication method that supports all Mersey Care staff to learn from a range of events and guidance:

• Adverse incidents, events and near misses
• Complaints and claims
• Clinical Audits and QRVs
• Investigations
• Risk registers
• Best practice identified from the above and from other local and national sources

The QPA’s are drafted by the subject matter experts and disseminated out by via the CAS/QPA administrator to the divisional governance and clinical leads. 

YourSpace Learning Framework​​​​​​

QPA template

The Central Alerting System (CAS) is a web-based system used for issuing patient safety alerts and other safety critical guidance to the NHS and other health and social care providers. It brings together the Public Health Link (PHL) and the Safety Alert Broadcast System (SABS). Safety alerts, emergency alerts, drug alerts, Dear Doctor letters, medical device alerts and field safety notices will be monitored through Radar on behalf of the:

• Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA)
• National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA)
• Department of Health
• New ‘originating bodies’ as the need arises

There is a distinction between the two types of alerts sent via CAS:

• Non-emergency alerts – issued on behalf of MHRA Medical Devices, the NPSA and the Department of Health Estates and Facilities, they have set deadlines for acknowledgment and completion of actions. NHS Trusts are required to submit responses on the action they have taken on alerts and are monitored on their compliance
• Emergency alerts that do not have deadlines, these relate to how quickly the information contained should be cascaded onwards and do not require a response. They are also sent to all Medical Directors and Chief Executives of NHS Trusts

All CAS alerts are monitored and distributed by the team through Radar to allow for a complete audit trail for distribution and completion of actions.

SA55 Central Alert System (CAS) Policy

How do I raise a risk onto the register?

Speak to your divisional risk lead who will guide you through the process of recording, scoring the risk and applying the appropriate controls and actions. A list of divisional risk leads is included below.   

Secure and Specialist LD

Diane Rice  0151 430 0303 (ext 2478)

Sarah Cain: 0151  471 2626

Mental Health Care Division

Emma Howell 0151 527 3444

Louise Gange 0151 527 3471

Community Division

Paul Rogers 0151 295 3359

Michael Singleton michael.singleton@merseycare.nhs.uk

Trustwide Support Services Division

India Bowles india.bowles@merseycare.nhs.uk

Claire Jennings  0151 478 6901

Do I need an account to log an incident on Radar?

No, any member of staff can report an incident on Radar. An account is not required. You only need an account if you are reviewing an incident. 

How can I access Radar training?

click here for Radar training resources

Incident Management

The Trust is committed to providing a safe environment for its patients/service users, staff and visitors as well as delivering high standards of care. It acknowledges that sometimes, in the course of providing healthcare, incidents can occur, some of which may have serious consequences for patients / service users, their carers, families, staff and the public. In order to record and learn from such incidents, the Trust uses the Radar Healthcare incident management system, which is managed by Informatics Merseyside.

Within the Patient Safety Team, data quality is the main focus of the Incident and Risk Management Team and we work in partnership with the governance leads in the divisions to improve the collection of data and the timeliness and accuracy of reporting. 

Reporting, Management, Review and Learning from Incidents Policy