1)            How many staff are available either as full time or part time (full time equivalent) to conduct Serious Incident investigations.  e.g. staff who are dedicated full time to conducting investigations or staff who have investigations as a defined part of their role.  

Within the Trust investigations team there are 2.0wte members of staff who are dedicated to SUI investigations. The investigations they are involved with relates to clinical SUI’s but does not include TV, falls, HCAI, safeguarding, 12hr breaches. These are managed through other corporate teams

There are more staff from clinical areas who are also involved in conducting investigations, however as this is on a case by case basis we do not centrally collate the overall resource associated with this

2) How many (number) of these staff have received specific training in investigating Serious Incidents?  

Both have undertaken local training and induction. 1.0wte has completed a formal RCA training course. The other 1.0wte will be undertaking the same course. In addition to this a number of clinical staff also involved in conducting investigation have undertaken various levels of RCA training however we do not centrally hold this training information.

3) What initial training is provided to patient safety incident investigators? e.g. a training syllabus or a specific course that is required before being allowed to conduct investigations.   

A combination of local RCA training along with formal RCA course (currently provided from a range of external suppliers)

3) How is patient safety investigator competence assessed? e.g. a competency framework document, examination or on the job assessment.  

For the investigations team this is an on-going assessment as part of the post holder performance. There is no formal assessment for other clinical staff

4) What continuing professional development is available to patient safety investigators? e.g. a document or policy setting out a minimum number of days of CPD or a list of suggested / required training courses. 

We do not have any documents which specify CPD or required courses. For the investigations team, on-going professional development is discussed as part of 1:1’s and annual appraisal. The core course is to complete the RCA course

 5) How many patient safety Serious Incident investigations were conducted in 2014 (or the last annual reporting period for which stats are easily to hand)    

Investigations conducted by the investigations team are as follows (these figures exclude falls, TV, HCAI, safeguarding, local level RCAs);

2013/14 = 15

2014/15 = 25

In addition to this the team have an oversight role for all local level RCA’s which are undertaken for any incident which is reported as resulting in severe harm

6) How many staff days were spent on patient safety investigations in 2014 (or the last annual reporting period for which stats are easily to hand)?   I am trying to understand the resource implications of conducting investigations.  I appreciate the staff time taken may not be recorded, if so please do just say. 

Staff time per investigation is not recorded. However the investigations team has 2.0wte working every day to support investigations. There will be a number of additional people who will provide time to any investigation. To conduct a detailed thorough investigation takes time and is resource intensive.