New surgical reporting app to help improve patient safety

The app in screens

CORESS, a charity which aims to promote safety in surgical practice in the NHS and the private sector, has published a new app to enable confidential reporting. 

Incident reports submitted by surgeons and theatre staff are analysed by the Advisory Board, whose members include AXA Health Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Pallavi Bradshaw. The Board comments on the incidents and publishes anonymised lessons to be learned in medical journals. 

The app enables users to record, transcribe, edit and submit details of precursor events (no-harm, near-miss and low harm events encountered during routine surgical practice) straight to CORESS from a smartphone, anonymously if desired. 

Dr Bradshaw said: ‘I’m delighted by this new initiative by CORESS, a charity which uses a Human Factors incident reporting method to assess and evaluate the reasons behind surgical incidents. 

‘All of us working in health know that sharing information and experiences is a key factor in the drive to improve patient safety. But we also understand the barriers to speaking up. This new app deserves to be widely shared, because it structures and smooths the process of reporting incidents, while holding true to the charity’s commitment to confidentiality and anonymity where needed.’ 

Dr Pallavi Bradshaw,
Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Medicolegal

Follow Pallavi on LinkedIn

Professor Frank Smith, CORESS Programme Director, said: 'Recognising how busy clinicians are, the CORESS App makes confidential incident reporting easy. Any member of the theatre team can record, transcribe, edit and submit a report to CORESS directly from their phone. We encourage all clinicians to make reporting to CORESS part of their standard approach to incidents. When they recognise a near miss or adverse event, react by taking action to stop it happening and then report the incident on the CORESS App, lessons can be published for all to learn from.’ He added: 'We are extremely pleased to have the support of Dr Bradshaw on our Advisory Board and the support of AXA'. 

The app is available on the Apple App Store or on Google Play. 

For more information, visit CORESS here.