Health Services (Quality and Safety) Regulations 2020

In these Regulations—

harm includes moderate harm, severe harm and prolonged psychological harm;

moderate harm means harm that requires a moderate increase in treatment to a patient, such as an unplanned or unexpected return to surgery, but does not include harm that causes permanent damage or injury to an individual;

prolonged psychological harm means psychological harm which a patient has experienced, or is likely to experience, for a continuous period of at least 28 days;

registered health practitioner has the same meaning as in the Health Practitioner Regulation National Law;

sentinel event means an unexpected and adverse event that occurs infrequently in a health service entity and results in the death of, or serious physical or psychological injury to, a patient as a result of system and process deficiencies at the health service entity;

severe harm means harm that causes a permanent lessening in the functioning of an individual that is unrelated to the natural course of a person's illness or underlying condition, including harm that can lead to a person experiencing a permanent impairment or disability, or death.

Reg. 3B inserted by S.R. No. 121/2022 reg. 6.