Hospital and Health Boards Regulation 2023

For section 94 of the Act, definition reportable event, each of the following events is prescribed—

surgery or another invasive procedure being performed on the wrong site of a patient’s body resulting in serious harm to the patient or the death of the patient;

surgery or another invasive procedure being performed on the wrong patient resulting in serious harm to the patient or the death of the patient;

the wrong surgical or other invasive procedure being performed on a patient resulting in serious harm to the patient or the death of the patient;

the unintended retention of a foreign object in a patient after surgery or another invasive procedure resulting in serious harm to the patient or the death of the patient;

a haemolytic blood transfusion reaction caused by ABO incompatibility resulting in serious harm to or the death of the patient receiving the blood transfusion;

the suspected suicide of a patient within an acute psychiatric unit or ward;

an error relating to a patient’s medication resulting in serious harm to the patient or the death of the patient;

the use of physical or mechanical restraint resulting in serious harm to a patient or the death of a patient;

the use of an incorrectly positioned orogastric or nasogastric tube resulting in serious harm to a patient or the death of a patient;

the discharge or release of a patient who is a child under the age of 15 years to an unauthorised person;

a stillbirth;

any death of a patient, or serious harm or other harm to a patient that is likely to be permanent, that—

is not mentioned in paragraphs (a) to (i); and

was not reasonably expected to be an outcome of the health service provided to the patient.

For subsection (1)(f), an acute psychiatric unit or ward is a specialised unit or ward, including a unit or ward within an emergency department, for the treatment and care of admitted patients with a mental illness if the unit or ward—

is specifically designed with fixtures and fittings that minimise the opportunity for patient suicide; and

is specifically designed to prevent any unauthorised ingress or egress; and

is subject to protocols for the observation of patients within the unit or ward.

In this section—

ABO incompatibility, in relation to a blood transfusion received by a patient, means the use of an incompatible blood group for the patient in the transfusion.

invasive procedure means a medical procedure that enters a person’s body including, for example, by cutting or puncturing the skin or by inserting a needle, tube, device or scope into the body.

mechanical restraint means a device that controls a person’s freedom of movement.

mental illness see the Mental Health Act 2016, section 10.

serious harm, for a patient, means harm to the patient—

that requires life-saving surgical or medical intervention; or

shortens the patient’s life expectancy; or

that is permanent or long-term physical harm; or

that is a permanent or long-term loss of a physical function.

stillbirth means the birth of a child—

who shows no sign of respiration or heartbeat, or other sign of life, after completely leaving the child’s mother’s body; and

who—

has been gestated for 20 weeks or more; or

weighs 400g or more.

unauthorised person, in relation to a child, means a person who—

is not a parent or legal guardian of the child; or

is not acting under the express or implied authority of a parent or legal guardian of the child for the purpose of subsection (1)(j); or

is prevented from having access to the child by an order of a court or tribunal.