Safety recommendation
HSSIB recommends that NHS England identifies and implements a system for sharing clinical information about people with a known difficult airway. This is to improve access to this information for healthcare professionals and reduce the risk of a person’s known difficult airway not being recognised.
Response:
NHS England will establish a database of patients in which prior airway management has been difficult, and thereby meet the recommendation above.
The work will be undertaken collaboratively with key professional stakeholders (including the Royal College of Anaesthetists (RCoA) and Difficult Airway Society (DAS)), patients, carers and public.
Actions planned to deliver safety recommendation:
- Collaborative work with DAS and RCoA to develop dataset to be included in the database. By: ongoing.
- Set up a clinical and patient steering group. By: ongoing.
- Define data flow and data specification. By: October 2024.
- Obtain information governance approval. By: TBC.
- Develop and publish platform including pilot phase. By: TBC.
Response received on 15 May 2024.