UKMi Resources
Incident Reporting in Medicines Information and Advice
UKMi are committed to ensuring the highest standards in patient safety and care. To support this, the Quality and Risk Management Group (QRMG) have introduced a new incident reporting process developed by UKMi members, for UKMi members.
Why report your incidents
Reporting incidents will help QRMG identify and address potential risks in Medicines Information (MI)/ Medicines Advice (MA) services, improve our services as a network, and enhance patient safety. Bringing reports from multiple MI/MA services together allows us to spot patterns. Your reports are invaluable in helping the network learn from errors and near misses, ensuring we can take proactive steps to prevent future occurrences.
QRMG collect incident reports relating to the enquiry answering process and to MI produced publication processes. We also collect information on errors in non-MI publications to inform the network.
The UKMi incident reporting process does not replace your local organisation processes for reporting errors and near misses.
How to report an incident
- Identify the incident: Any event or circumstance that could have or did lead to unintended or unexpected harm or potential harm to a person should be reported.
- Complete the MS form: Access the incident reporting form at https://forms.office.com/e/wPNkxCc31Y for enquiries and https://forms.office.com/e/G3TJGJjBn2 for publications. Please provide as much detail as possible to help QRMG understand the content and impact of the incident. There are guidance documents below to assist you in completing the MS forms.
- Submit the form: Once completed, submit the form. You will get submission confirmation and can download a copy of your submitted form (optional; some organisations may disable this functionality). The UKMi Incident Reporter will review the report and may contact you for further information if needed. They will anonymise and collate the incidents for review by QRMG. The incidents and recommendations by QRMG will be published quarterly.
UKMi reports
Feedback and learning points from MI/MA incidents will be shared in several ways.
- Quarterly Full UKMi Active Learning from Events and Risk Tracking (ALERT) report (Word): To access these make sure you are registered with the UKMi website. These are emailed directly to UKMi members. The full report details incidents for local learning.
- Quarterly Summary UKMi Active Learning from Events and Risk Tracking (ALERT) report (PDF). These are useful summaries to share with colleagues outside of MI/MA. We have posted the last 2 years of summaries below.
- Quarterly UKMi Active Learning from Events and Risk Tracking (ALERT) slide decks (PowerPoint): These are useful to provide a presentation to colleagues at MI/MA network meetings or at pharmacy team meetings. We have posted the last 2 years of slide decks below.
- Incident Spotlights (PDF): These are produced following identification of themes in reported incidents over time. The spotlights are useful to all staff handing questions about medicines. All published spotlights to date can be found below.
Confidentiality
All submitted forms are treated in confidence. The information you provide will be used solely for the purpose of improving patient safety and service quality.
If you have any questions or need assistance with the reporting process, please email QRMG.ukmi@nhs.net.