Patient safety data

Overview of patient safety event recording systems

Patient safety event data is held by NHS England in three recording systems:

More information about these recording systems and how they compare.

 

Publication of patient safety event data 

Until October 2022, NHS England published official statistics using patient safety incident data from the NRLS, in the National Patient Safety Incident Reports (NaPSIR) and Organisation Patient Safety Incident Reports (OPSIR). In addition, we published monthly summary data which complemented those official reports. Publication of official statistics was paused during the transition from NRLS to LFPSE, and resumed in April 2025, using LFPSE data. In addition, monthly counts of reported Never Events are published monthly during each financial year since 2014.

The table below presents current and discontinued publications of patient safety data.

Publication Data Data periods About Type
Patient safety event data LFPSE Oct 2024 – present These reports set out the number of patient safety events reported to the Learn from Patient Safety Events (LFPSE) service. Official statistics in development
NRLS to LFPSE transition report NRLS and LFPSE Jan 2021 – Dec 2024 This report describes national trends in the recording of patient safety incidents observed during the transition from the National Reporting and Learning System (NRLS) to the LFPSE service. Management information
Never Events data StEIS Apr 2012 – present Provisional never events data is published every month as an update of the cumulative total for the current financial year. Management information
(Discontinued) National patient safety incident reports (NaPSIR) NRLS Oct 2003 – Mar 2022 These reports set out the number of patient safety incidents reported to the National Reporting and Learning System and describe national patterns and trends. Official statistics
(Discontinued) Organisation patient safety incident reports (OPSIR) NRLS Oct 2008 – Mar 2022 These reports set out the number of patient safety incidents reported to the National Reporting and Learning System by NHS trusts. Official statistics
(Discontinued) Monthly data patient safety incident reports NRLS Jul 2022 – Jun 2023 These reports provide rolling data, updated monthly, to show the number of patient safety incidents reported to the National Reporting and Learning System in the last 12 months. Official statistics

 

Patient safety event data – Official statistics in development

Learn from Patient Safety Events (LFPSE) service is the national repository of patient safety event data, which has been operating since July 2021. This patient safety event data official statistics in development is a quarterly publication and uses LFPSE data.

 

NRLS to LFPSE transition report – Management information

Learn from Patient Safety Events (LFPSE) service has fully replaced the National Reporting Learning Service (NRLS), which was decommissioned on 30th June 2024. This report uses data from both systems to present trends observed during the transition between systems.

 

Never events data – Management information

Never Events are defined as patient safety events that are ‘wholly preventable’ because of the existence of strong systemic protective barriers at a national level.

We publish provisional Never Events data by provider and Never Event type every month as an update of the cumulative total for the current financial year.

 

(Discontinued) National patient safety incident reports – Official statistics

These reports set out the number of patient safety incidents reported to the National Reporting and Learning System and describe national patterns and trends. We have discontinued the publishing of this data. Details of this publication can be found on the archived website.

 

(Discontinued) Organisation patient safety incident reports – Official statistics

These reports set out the number of patient safety incidents reported to the National Reporting and Learning System by NHS trusts. We have discontinued the publishing of this data. Details of this publication can be found on the archived website.

 

(Discontinued) Monthly data patient safety incident reports – Official statistics

These reports provide rolling data, updated monthly, to show the number of patient safety incidents reported to the National Reporting and Learning System in the last 12 months. We have discontinued the publishing of this data. Details of this publication can be found on the archived website.

Access the archived monthly data patient safety incident reports data

 

Contact us

You can obtain further details about the statistics published in this section or send in your comments by emailing: patientsafety.analysis@nhs.net

 

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