Incidents can have a devastating impact on service users and families and cause harm in two ways; first from the incident itself and second from the way it is handled by the service. It is therefore essential that services learn from the experience of patients so that they can improve their response to service users and families in the aftermath of an incident.
Alternately there may be occasions, not resulting in an incident, where the experience of service users or families may identify a need to improve care delivery or indeed demonstrate opportunities taken by service users and services to proactively improve safety.
The following written stories were developed by Patient and Family Engagement (QID) in partnership with Patients for Patient Safety Ireland and shared with QAV to support the implementation of the Incident Management Framework.
Failure to refer appropriately: patient safety story
Eve presented with her mum at a local A&E department with a history of recurrent ear infections, nausea and dizziness. Eve’s mum describes her treatment at the local A&E Department. Read Eves' story
Miscarriage misdiagnosis: patient safety story
Melissa attended the local maternity unit for an early scan due to recurrent miscarriages. Her she describes the impact of both this event and its subsequent management. Read Melissa’s Story
End of life communication: patient safety story
Anna tells the story of her sister Sinead who required dialysis for kidney problems. Anna explains some of the issues that arose when Sinead’s health had deteriorated and she reached the end of her life. Read Sinead’s story.
Failure to recognise and act on high calcium level in his blood test results: patient safety story
Kevin was a 19 year old man who passed away here Margaret, Kevin’s mum describes her difficulties with finding out what happened and why it happened. Read Kevin’s story.
Unexpected outcome from a procedure: patient safety story
Caroline is a 39 year old woman who was scheduled for removal of a cyst. Caroline talks about the surgery, her treatment, recovery and investigation into her care. Read Caroline’s Story.
Further to the launch of the Incident Management Framework (2018) the Office of Quality Risk and Safety have committed to continue the development of Patient Safety Voices. Find below stories developed since then.
Navigating a complex service: patient safety story
Mark’s mum, Catherine, describes his initial contact with the Mental Health Services. Here she speaks about the difficulties they have met as a family in accessing treatment for Mark.Read Mark’s story.
Bowel cancer misdiagnosis: patient safety story
Patricia is the daughter of a man who had a misdiagnosis of his condition. The patient safety story tells us about their journey over and following that time.
