The second phase of the IMS cycle, when an incident happens, examines how to respond, record and report an incident.
When an incident occurs, you must take immediate action to provide support and assistance to those involved. Examine the level of harm or impact to those involved in the incident and ensure that there are no further threats or safety issues that need immediate attention.
The second phase of the IMS cycle, when an incident happens, examines how to respond, record and report an incident.
When an incident occurs, you must take immediate action to support and assist those involved. During your response, you must examine the level of harm or impact to those involved in the incident and ensure there are no further threats or safety issues that need immediate attention.
Key actions
- Ensure workers know how to respond to incidents, including assessing any immediate threats and checking in with those affected by the incident
- Ensure your IMS outlines the steps of identifying and responding to an incident or near miss
- Ensure your policies and procedures outline how to involve those affected in the incident response process
- Identify whether the incident is reportable to the Commission or other parties
Key actions
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Ensure you know how to respond to incidents, including assessing any immediate threats and checking in with those affected by the incident
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Follow the steps in your IMS that outline how to identify and respond to an incident or near miss
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Follow your policies on how to involve those affected in the incident response process
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Identify whether the incident is reportable to the Commission or other parties
How incidents and near misses are identified
Incidents and near misses may be discovered in a number of ways including:
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a worker or another consumer observing the incident
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a consumer making a disclosure about the incident
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another person informing a worker that an incident occurred.
Incident response occurs when the incident happens or upon its discovery when it is later discovered. Incidents may be easier to identify when witnessed; however, all incidents and near misses must be responded to to reduce possible future harm.
Your incident management system should outline expectations for workers who identify that an incident has or is alleged or suspected to have occurred.
How incidents and near misses are identified
Incidents and near misses may be discovered by you, another worker, a consumer or third party. This can occur as the incident happens or when it is later discovered. Incidents may be easier to identify when witnessed, however all incidents and near misses must be responded to when you or your service becomes aware.
Where no harm has occurred, a near miss must still be responded to, to reduce possible future harm.
You must report any alleged or suspected incident. If it is a reportable incident under SIRS, you must notify the Commission according to the required timeframes for a Priority 1 or 2 incident, covered on the 'Reportable Incidents' page.
Supporting affected individuals
You must take immediate action to ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of those involved in an incident. You should assess the support and assistance required for those affected by the incident.
As part of your assessment, you should consider the level of harm or impact on anyone involved in the incident and what actions can be taken to reduce this harm or impact and ensure each person’s health, safety, physical and psychological wellbeing.
Supporting affected individuals
Checking the health, safety and wellbeing of those involved in an incident must always be the first priority in your response. Follow your service’s policies and undertake available training so you know how to support and assist each affected person’s needs. Consider both the physical and psychological impacts of each incident on your consumers.
Supporting affected individuals
Checking the health, safety and wellbeing of those involved in an incident must always be the first step in response to an incident. In home care, this will often be actioned by your workers. Policies and training should outline how workers should support affected consumers.
As part of your assessment, you should consider the level of harm or impact on anyone involved in the incident and what actions can be taken to reduce this harm and ensure each person’s health, safety, physical and psychological wellbeing.
Supporting affected individuals
Checking the health, safety and wellbeing of those involved in an incident must always be the first step in response to an incident. In home care, this may be actioned by you while working in consumers’ homes.
Follow your service’s policies and undertake available training so you know how best to support and assist each affected person’s needs. Consider both the physical and psychological impacts of each incident on your consumers.
While all incidents need to be taken seriously, be aware that consumers living with a cognitive impairment may at times allege incidents based on delusions.
Where a consumer with cognitive impairment continues to report incidents that did not occur according to your provider’s investigation, you must continue to provide appropriate support to the affected consumer and record these incidents in your IMS.
Work tool
Use the Managing an incident work tool to reflect on questions that help you in meeting your incident management obligations.
Using open disclosure
Open disclosure is the open discussion that an aged care provider has with consumers when something goes wrong that has harmed or had the potential to cause harm to a consumer.
Your service should practice honest and timely open disclosure when responding to incidents. Consumer trust and confidence in your service will be damaged if your service is slow to respond or perceived to be attempting to cover up incidents.
Promoting a safe place for consumers to report incidents is important. Some consumers may be uncomfortable or concerned about reporting incidents due to fear of others finding out or reprisals. Practicing open disclosure helps your consumers gain more insights and ensure that their voice is heard.
Providing your workers with training and education on open disclosure will assist them to engage with consumers in this way.
Using open disclosure
Open disclosure is the open discussion that an aged care provider has with consumers when something goes wrong that has harmed or had the potential to cause harm to a consumer.
Your service should practice honest and timely open disclosure when responding to incidents. Consumer trust and confidence in your service is damaged if your service is slow to respond or perceived to be attempting to cover up incidents.
Promoting a safe place for consumers to report incidents is important. However, some consumers may be uncomfortable or concerned about reporting incidents due to fear of others finding out. Practicing open disclosure helps your consumers to gain more insights and ensure that their voices will be heard.
Taking part in available training and education on practicing open disclosure can assist you to engage with consumers in this way.
Creating an incident response plan
It is good practice for your service to have policies, procedures and an incident response plan to respond to incidents. An incident response plan provides the steps to follow after an incident has occurred.
The following are items you can include in your incident response policies, procedures and plan.
Using an incident response plan
You must know what is expected of you when responding to an incident. Refer to your service's policies, procedures and incident response plan.
The following are actions you may see in your service’s incident response plan.
Ensure the health, safety and wellbeing of those involved in an incident by:
- asking affected people directly if they are okay
- determining and seeking medical or psychological treatment for the affected people as needed.
Provide support and reassurance to consumers and witnesses to the incident by:
- considering the views of those impacted by the incident and tailoring the response to all affected people
- ensuring timely and appropriate treatment or support for all affected people.
Address any immediate threats, hazards or risks by:
- stopping, preventing and reducing the risks of these threats or hazards from happening again.
Notify consumer representatives and/or family as soon as practicable.
Tailor the incident response to their needs of those affected
Notify consumer representatives and/or their family as soon as practicable.
Report to the relevant supervisor/manager.
Facilitate access to advocates:
- other external support services.
- Record the incident in your IMS, capturing relevant details
- report to the relevant supervisor/manager.
Determine if the incident is reportable and notify relevant authorities, in line with legislation and reporting timeframe requirements.
Work tool
The Reportable incidents workflow outlines the steps you should follow when an incident occurs.
Work tool
The Reportable incidents workflow outlines the steps you should follow when an incident occurs.
Contact us
If you have a question about the SIRS, you can call us on 1800 081 549. This phone line is open 9 am to 5 pm (AEST) Monday to Friday and 8 am to 6 pm (AEST) Saturday to Sunday.
You can also email us at sirs@agedcarequality.gov.au.
Facilitated workshops
The Commission provides facilitated workshops to sector participants. All current workshops are available on the Commission’s Workshop page.
Online learning
The Commission’s Aged Care Learning Information Solution, Alis provides free online education for employees of Commonwealth-funded aged care providers.
You can access Alis at learning.agedcarequality.gov.au.
Disclaimer
The information contained on this page is intended to provide you with general guidance; however, it is your responsibility to be aware of your legislative requirements.
