Risk Management

Last Update: February, 2013

►Risk Management Toolkit ►Risk Management Committee ►Hospital Incident Reporting ►Action Plan ►Present Status

Introduction

Risk Management is an approach to improving the quality and safety of health care by identifying circumstances that put patients and staff at risk and acting to prevent or control those risks.

A logical and systematic method of establishing the context identifying, analyzing, evaluating, treating, monitoring and the communication of risks associated with any activity, function or process in a way that will enable organizations to minimize losses and maximize opportunities. Risk Management is as much about identifying opportunities as avoiding or mitigating losses.”

Risk management is defined as all the processes involved in identifying, assessing and judging risks, assigning ownership, taking action to mitigate or anticipate them and monitoring and reviewing progress.

Risk Management Policy

Purpose

§The purpose of this policy is to ensure that risk managements is an integral part of day to day management for all staff in health Professionals. It will ensure that the organization uses risk management to improve decision making and encourage the continued improvement of service delivery and the best use of public money.

Policy Statement

§The Health Authority is committed to the active management of risk. Risk Management is being incorporated into overall management processes and will be a feature of the hospitals plans and planning process.

§A system of internal control is to be designed to manage and where appropriate eliminate risk in order to provide reasonable but not absolute assurance of its effectiveness. Effective risk management will help the Authority to meet its overall objectives

Strategy

§A structured approach to clinical risk management within a clinical governance framework meets the needs of the client, clinician and organization. It provides an opportunity to identify risk and prevent the reoccurrence of similar incidents.

§ Risk should be managed within a framework that integrates all aspects of clinical governance including audit, training, complaints handling, research and service development.

§ Strategic direction should be provided by a risk management group with a senior clinician as the designated head. Membership of this group should be multi-disciplinary e.g. doctor nurses, administrative staff

§ Consultation and involvement of staff and service users is essential.

§ A risk register should be established

§ Systems should be in place to communicate effectively with all staff.

§ Staff involvement will increase awareness of potential risks and make it easier to implement changes in practice.