The Lifetime Support Authority (LSA) is committed to managing and responding to all incidents involving Lifetime Support Scheme (LSS) participants quickly and effectively.

Incident

"An event or circumstance, which could have, or did cause unnecessary negative impact on the health, safety or wellbeing of LSS participants, LSA staff and/or service providers, and/or negatively impact the reputation of the Scheme."

These guidelines are for service providers funded by the LSS to support the management of incidents involving LSS participants. This information sets out the expectations of the LSA of service providers in relation to managing incidents/adverse events and does not replace individual agency incident management policies and procedures.

Guidelines

Service providers should take immediate actions to ensure the safety health and wellbeing of the
participant, themselves and any other persons involved in the incident.
These actions may include, but are not limited to:

  • contacting 000 Emergency Services
  • providing first aid
  • contacting the Mental Health Triage Service
  • informing the participant’s guardian

Service providers must inform the LSA, as soon as practical, but within 24 hours of an incident occurring. All incidents need to be reported using LSA Incident Reporting Form, available on the LSA website, and emailed to the LSAFeedback@sa.gov.au inbox.

The Quality and Safety (Q&S) Team at the LSA will send an acknowledgment email on receipt of the incident notification.
This email will include:

  • the FAIR incident number (F00000X) – this number should be used in all further
  • correspondence regarding the incident
  • the risk rating – this will determine the types of actions required by all stakeholders and the priority of action to be taken
  • the categorisation and subcategorisation
  • any further actions to be taken, with time frames for completion

For incidents rated “Extreme”, further actions such as attendance at a case conference by the service provider may be requested by the LSA.

The purpose of this conference is to:

  • assess the risk of future harm to the participant and determine any long term actions or interventions required to mitigate the risk
  • share known information and perceived risks with all relevant parties
  • confirm the roles and responsibilities of all agencies and stakeholders responsible for responding to the “Extreme” rated incident
  • achieve consensus regarding the approach to investigation, including clarification of what information is to be sought, how the view of the participant will be obtained
  • develop a coordinated action plan which identifies what action is to be taken (both short and long term), by whom, and associated timeframes to ensure the continued safety of the participant, and to ensure all care needs are appropriately met.

Service providers will be expected to make every effort to send a suitable representative to this case conference.

Follow-up actions may be requested of service providers depending on the incident/adverse event. This will be documented and shared with you as part of the acknowledgement email, or as part of an action plan. The LSA will work with service providers to address any issues to ensure actions are completed within the timeframes required. Any issues identified can be discussed with the Quality and Safety Team or an LSA staff member requesting action or information. All correspondence should be sent to LSAFeedback@sa.gov.au with the FAIR number referenced in the subject line.

The LSA may seek additional information in relation to the incident to assist reviews by the Q&S Team, and to follow-up or make recommendations to address concerns.

Requests for information may include, but are not limited to:

  • internal incident reports
  • case notes
  • medical or treatment forms
  • rosters

Once satisfied that stakeholders have taken all appropriate actions, the LSA Q&S Team will provide all stakeholders with an email reporting the closure of an incident.

Where the incident was rated “Extreme”, or was otherwise considered complex or serious, an Incident Review Report may be provided, summarising the incident, the actions taken by all stakeholders, and any recommendations for further actions to reduce the risk of the incident occurring again.

Please contact us by phone on 1300 880 849 or by email LSAFeedback@sa.gov.au

Page last updated: 30 September 2020