Released 22 May 2023
Request:
Please note that this request pertains mainly to general risk management policies and procedures for “protecting patient safety”. Please note that documents focused solely on employee safety or on specific risks (e.g., specialized documents related to patient falls, nighttime/out-of-hours operation, etc.) are not required unless your organization does not have general risk management policies and procedures for “protecting patient safety”.
I am writing to you under the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to request the following information from your esteemed organization.
Since you have been ranked by CQC (Care Quality Commission) as with an overall rating of “outstanding”, please may you provide me with the below documents?
- Your organization’s current risk management policy (or nearest equivalent, e.g., risk evaluation, risk reduction, risk assessment Policy, etc.)
- The organization’s current risk management procedures (or nearest equivalent, e.g., risk assessment procedures, risk evaluation procedures, risk control, etc.).
- Risk Evaluation and Risk Control Guidance provided to employees (or any other related guidance that exists)
- Any procedure or guidance or related document existing about how to decide if a risk needs to be reduced or not.
- Any procedure or guidance or related document existing about how to evaluate if your organization is obliged by the regulations to reduce the identified risk to a lower level or not. In this case, if you use a specific tool like “cost-benefit analysis” or any other tools, it would be truly appreciated to provide those documents as well.
- Any procedure, guidance, formula, guideline, instruction, direction, prescription, method, or process through which your organization decides if your organization is going to implement a measure to reduce risk, or, you will not implement more risk reduction measures; and in case of not implementing more risk reduction measure, how you justify that risks are reduced to a level As Low As Reasonably Practicable”
Information disclosed:
1 to 6. Please refer to the attached documents [Risk Management Policy April 2022; Risk Management Strategy Approved] which should answer all of the questions submitted.
Please note in particular that the appendices to the Risk Management Policy detail the guidance for assessing and managing risks, as per your request.