NSFT awarded accreditation
It's come from the Royal College of Psychiatrists
Last updated 11th Aug 2021
Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust (NSFT) has been awarded a prized national accreditation in recognition of the steps it takes to carry out high quality patient safety incident investigations which fully involve families and staff.
The Serious Incident Review Accreditation Network (SIRAN) accreditation from the Royal College of Psychiatrists comes after the College looked into detail at a number of standards in place at the Trust, including governance structures, how learning is shared following a patient safety incident and how the Trust involves staff, service users, families and carers in investigations.
The achievement has been made possible thanks to the work of the Patient Safety Team, who have spent the last nine months submitting evidence to the College. Two members of the team have also been part of process by acting as peer reviewers for other trusts seeking the same accreditation.
Tash Nicholson, Patient Safety Manager, said:
“We are thrilled to receive this accreditation, which demonstrates that we have high quality, robust processes in place for supporting service users, their families and our staff, both during and following a patient safety incident.
“We strive to be as open and transparent as possible when an incident occurs, and regularly receive positive feedback from families who value the way our staff engage with them and involve them in the investigation.
“We also have good processes in place for communicating any learning across the Trust so that we can improve safety for all of our service users. This includes inviting family members who have been affected by incidents to share their stories at staff workshops, which can be incredibly powerful.”
Saranna Burgess, Deputy Director for Patient Safety and Quality, said:
“I am incredibly proud of our Patient Safety Team, who have worked extremely hard to get this valued accreditation whilst also rising to the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We hope that the accreditation will provide assurance to people living in Norfolk and Suffolk that we have effective processes in place to investigate when things do go wrong and to share that learning with our colleagues across the Trust. That said, we are always working towards further improvement, building on the feedback we receive, to achieve authentic reviews with integrity and compassion.”
The accreditation lasts for three years and must be renewed in 2024.