Recognising Risk

Risk is part of everyday life – there’s no escaping it. Creating a safe environment for your patients and staff is of paramount importance and practices need to implement risk management systems. Kirsty Plowman reports.

General practice – an area of risk

GPs currently face a number of challenges and difficulties. Last year, a survey produced by Medical Protection found that 67% of 600 GP members who took part are fearful of being sued by patients and 88% of respondents believe they are more likely to be sued now than five years ago.

Working in general practices can be stressful, busy and demanding. Juggling long working hours and a variety of diverse and ‘hands on’ tasks mean general practices are exposed to a number of risks.

These risks are not always related to clinical practice but can be due to deficiencies in systems, communication, equipment or training. An analysis from a separate Medical Protection study in 2015 determined that the most common risk areas within general practices are:

• Confidentiality – 98.1%
• Communication (external patients) – 90.7%
• Prescribing – 88.9%

What is risk management? 

Risk management identifies potential hazards, evaluates the associated risk and determines appropriate ways to eliminate or control the hazard. In the context of healthcare, risk management characterises the nature and likelihood of a harmful effect to patients and practice staff. 

Principles of risk management:

• Identify the risk – what’s likely to go wrong?
• Analyse the risk – what are the chances of it going wrong, its impact and does it matter?
• Action – is there anything you can do about it?
• Cost the risk – what’s the cost of getting it right versus the cost of getting it wrong?&
• Review and monitor

How we support you

Medical Protection provides a unique consultancy programme for general practices, called a Clinical Risk Self Assessment (CRSA), designed to identify potential risks within a practice and develop practical solutions to mitigate risks. In 2015 we undertook 108 CRSAs across the UK.

A CRSA will:

• Improve a practice’s systems, the quality of care provided and help manage clinical risks
• Reduce the risk of harm to patients
• Reduce the likelihood of complaints and claims
• Help meet national standards
• Improve communication within the team
• Provide useful evidence for appraisal and revalidation

Useful links

• Read a recent case study on a CRSA
• Watch a video about what a CRSA can do for your practice
• To make a booking email [email protected] or call 0113 241 0359.

(Practice Xtra Gold members can receive a CRSA free of charge as part of the package - limited to one every five years – while Practice Xtra Silver package members can access the programme at a cost of £875 + VAT. A CRSA also goes towards health professionals CPD.)