Clinical Risk Self-Assessment - Medical Protection Society

OVERVIEW
Clinical Risk Self-Assessment
MPS’s Clinical Risk Self-Assessment (CRSA) for GP practices helps you identify risks
and find practical solutions to improve patient and staff safety.
Premise
Healthcare is a notoriously risky business.
Some procedures and tasks are riskier than others and can lead to healthcare
professionals finding themselves involved with patients’ complaints and claims.
These problems are not always directly related to clinical practice, but could be due to
deficiencies in administration systems, communication, staff training and equipment –
problems that are simple to overcome with the right procedures in place.
Healthcare providers have a statutory duty to improve the quality of patient care,
ensure patient safety and reduce medical error.
Creating a safe and high quality environment for patients and staff is now of
paramount importance and, by implementing simple risk management principles,
general practice can address the risks that may compromise staff and patient safety.
Overview
MPS has developed a proven method to assist practices in identifying their specific key
risks. A Clinical Risk Self-Assessment (CRSA) offers an all-too-rare opportunity for the
whole practice to work together, talk openly and create practical solutions to improve
patient and staff safety.
The benefits of a CRSA
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Improves practice systems and quality of care provided.
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Supports the practice development plan.
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Is useful evidence for appraisal and revalidation.
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Reduces the likelihood of complaints and claims.
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Improves communication within the team.
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Identifies non compliance with National Standards.
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Provides recommendations of useful references and resources.
Interesting
findings
Over 700 general practices in the UK and Ireland have now undertaken a CRSA – an
approach that delivers results and gets staff committed to making changes happen.
Analysis of all CRSAs conducted over the last five years highlighted the following as
the top five risk areas in GP practices:
Top 5 Risks Identified in GP Practices
Rank Risk % of practices
1 Confidentiality 98.5
2 Health & Safety 98.3
3 Communication 95.0
4 Prescribing 92.4
5 Record Keeping 91.3
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Duration
What’s involved?
One-day visit, which incorporates a half-day workshop (this can be shortened to meet
the needs of the practice if necessary).
Before the visit:
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A pre-visit questionnaire, to provide MPS with a snapshot of the practice.
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Completion of a staff survey of patient safety, the purpose of which is to help
identify the importance attached to patient safety in the practice.
The visit:
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A full-day visit by a trained risk assessment facilitator.
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Confidential exploratory discussions with key members of staff from each
discipline, in order to gain an insight into working practices and perceived risks.
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A half-day facilitated multi-disciplinary workshop – flexible to meet the needs of
the client.
The workshop includes:
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A presentation giving an explanation of risk management and its importance.
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Discussion of risks that the practice know have occurred or think could occur.
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Discussion of some of these risks in greater depth, leading to corrective actions
which the practice might wish to adopt.
After the visit:
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An action plan is produced by the MPS facilitator in the form of a detailed report
containing summaries of the main findings, along with anonymised feedback
regarding the patient safety culture survey. The action plan can be continually
used within team meetings to review progress and keep risk management firmly
on the agenda.
Facilitator
MPS’s risk assessment facilitators are experienced healthcare professionals, with a
passion for education and risk management.
For more information or to book a CRSA, please contact
Neil Hepworth on 0113 241 0624 or visit our website www.mps.org.uk/crsa
MPS0792:03/11