Aim of the Course

The aim of this course is to help frontline health and social care workers understand what should be reported, how incidents should be documented, when concerns must be escalated and why accurate reporting matters.

The course also promotes a learning culture in which incidents and near misses are used to improve practice rather than simply being recorded and forgotten.

Scope of the Course

Designed primarily for care assistants, healthcare assistants, support workers, senior carers and similar frontline roles, this course focuses on practical incident recognition and reporting responsibilities.

Learners will explore their role in responding immediately to incidents, protecting the person involved, recording factual information, notifying appropriate colleagues and following local reporting procedures. External statutory notifications remain the responsibility of appropriately designated persons unless the worker's role specifically includes them.

What This Course Covers

1. Meaning and purpose of incident reporting
2. Accidents, incidents and near misses
3. Immediate actions following an incident
4. Protecting the person and making the situation safe
5. What information should be recorded
6. Factual and objective documentation
7. Reporting and escalation routes
8. Medication, falls, safeguarding and environmental incidents
9. Equipment failures and workplace hazards
10. Confidentiality and information handling
11. RIDDOR awareness
12. Learning from incidents and preventing recurrence
13. Common reporting errors and poor practice

RIDDOR 2013 places legal reporting duties on specified responsible persons for certain work-related deaths, injuries, diseases and dangerous occurrences; it does not mean every routine care incident is automatically reportable to HSE.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, learners should be able to:

1. Explain the purpose of incident reporting.
2. Distinguish between an incident, accident and near miss.
3. Identify common incidents that should be reported within a care service.
4. Describe appropriate immediate actions following an incident.
5. Record information clearly, objectively and accurately.
6. Explain the importance of timely reporting and escalation.
7. Recognise situations requiring urgent senior or safeguarding escalation.
8. Describe the basic purpose of RIDDOR 2013.
9. Recognise the limits of their own responsibility for statutory external reporting.
10. Explain how incident reporting can contribute to safer care and continuous improvement.

Further Reading and References

Recommended further reading includes:

1. Health and Safety at Work etc. Act 1974
2. Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulations 2013 (RIDDOR)
3. Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014
4. CQC Regulation 12 – Safe Care and Treatment
5. CQC Regulation 17 – Good Governance; this includes requirements relating to monitoring safety, mitigating risks and maintaining accurate and contemporaneous records.
6. HSE – RIDDOR in Health and Social Care
7. HSE – Types of Reportable Incidents
8. Relevant organisational incident reporting, safeguarding, medication, falls and health and safety procedures.