Open Disclosure information for consumers

SA Health recognises that effective incident management and open disclosure processes are attributes of high-quality health service organisations, and important parts of healthcare quality improvement and patient-centred approach to care.

A patient incident is any event or circumstance which could have (near miss) or did lead to unintended and/or unnecessary psychological or physical harm to a patient, that occurs during an episode of health care.

Open disclosure is the process of providing an open, consistent approach to communicating with patients/consumers, their family, carer and/or support person following a patient incident. This process includes expressing regret or saying sorry.

The diagram illustrates that the consumer is central to the activities that occur after an incident.

Consumer information and resources  have been developed for patient / consumer, families, carers and/or support persons.  The resources describe what an incident is, what the open disclosure process is, what you can expect from the process and what you can do.

Information on the Patient Incident Management and Open Disclosure Policy Directive (PDF 1.9MB) and related policies and resources for staff are available on the Patient Incident Management and Open disclosure page.

Consumer information

Open disclosure is designed for when things don’t go to plan in health care. Staff will:

  1. inform you, and help you to understand what happened with your care
  2. let you know what is being done to investigate what happened
  3. explain the consequences of the incident for you and your carer
  4. assist you with any support you may need
  5. let you know the steps the health service organisation will be taking to make care safer in the future.

Tool 4 – Open disclosure Patients / Consumers brochure (PDF 105KB)

This is a patient / consumer information brochure on the open disclosure process.It outlines what is open disclosure, when should open disclosure occur, what the benefit of open disclosure is, and where to obtain additional information.

Tool 5 – A guide for patients/consumers beginning an Open Disclosure Process (PDF 142KB)

The booklet – a guide for patients/consumers beginning an open disclosure process is designed to help patients, consumers, families, carers and/or support person when an incident resulting in harm has occurred.The guide talks about health services (including hospitals), outlines what an incident is, what the open disclosure process is, what they can expect from the process, including how to prepare for the first open disclosure meeting.

Tool 6 - Open disclosure flowchart for patients/consumers – incident resulting in harm and near miss / no harm (PDF 65KB)

This flowchart illustrates the steps in the reporting and management of an incident resulting in harm, and a near miss incident for patient/consumers, their families, carers and/or support persons.

Tool 7 – Frequently asked questions about Open Disclosure for patients/consumers, families, carers and/or support persons (PDF 63KB)

This information sheets provides patients/consumers, their families, carers and/or support persons with frequently asked questions about the open disclosure process, including what is open disclosure, what to expect in the process, what is an incident, what you can do, and how to find out more information on open disclosure.

Tool 15 – Patient/consumer, family, carer and/or support person evaluation survey (PDF 145KB)

The patient/consumer, family, carer and/or support person evaluation survey has been developed to enable feedback from patients/consumers, their families, their carers and/or support person about the open disclosure process. The aim of the survey is to improve the open disclosure experience for people involved in an incident that resulted in harm to a patient while receiving health care.

Contact

Michele McKinnon
Safety and Quality Unit
(08) 8226 6971