What to consider when reporting SIRS Priority 2 incidents

From the 1st of October 2021, aged care providers are required to report on Serious Incident Report Scheme (SIRS) Priority 2 incidents to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission (ACQSC) in addition to Priority 1 incidents.  

What are Priority 2 incidents?  

SIRS Priority 2 incidents include any reportable incident that does not meet the Priority 1 criteria i.e. where a consumer is momentarily shaken or upset, or experiences temporary redness or marks that do not bruise and where medical or psychological treatment is not required.

There may be incidents where a provider is uncertain whether to categorise an incident as Priority 1 or Priority 2. Providers can access decision making support from the SIRS reportable incidents workflow.  

When do we report incidents?  

Priority 1 incidents: are to be reported to the ACQSC within 24 hours of the approved provider becoming aware of an incident where the incident has caused, or could have reasonably caused, physical or psychological injury or discomfort that requires medical or psychological treatment.

Priority 2 incidents: are to be reported to the ACQSC within 30 calendar days of the approved provider becoming aware of the incident. This obligation came into effect on October 1st 2021.  

What are reportable incidents?

1. Unreasonable use of force against a consumer  
2. Unlawful sexual contact, or inappropriate sexual conduct, inflicted on a consumer 
3. Psychological or emotional abuse of a consumer 
4. Unexpected death of a consumer 
5. Stealing or financial coercion of a consumer, by a staff member
6. Neglect of a consumer
7. Inappropriate physical or chemical restraint of a consumer 
8. Unexplained absence of a consumer from the residential care service. 

6 considerations to improve service

1. How many serious incident notifications have we submitted since April 1st 2021? 
2. What types of incidents have we submitted and is there a trend? 
3. Have we benchmarked our incident types to sector performance? 
4. How many incidents did our workforce report into our incident management system since April 1st 2021 and have we audited these to ensure all reportable incidents have been reported to the ACQSC?
5. What percentage of our total incidents were Priority 1 and what percentage were Priority 2? Have we analysed the types to identify trends and opportunities for improvement? 
6. Does our governing body and senior executives of the home/s review the incident reporting analysis?   

Ensure compliance and reduce your administrative burden  

We partner with you to ensure you have:

• Insights into the effectiveness of your incident management system 
• Capacity support to analyse your Serious Risk Incident Response notifications  
• Provide reporting on incident trends and recommendations for continuous improvement 
• Review and cross check incidents to ensure all reportable incidents have been notified to ACQSC 
• Ensure compliance and mitigate risk to your care recipients, home and workforce.  

Our Quality, Risk and Compliance team work with aged care providers to identify and address systemic issues. We work with you and your team to provide you with education and feedback to ensure continuous improvement in preventing and managing incidents.