Our Approach...

Collaborative yet independent

We aim to collaborate with the commissioning agency yet maintain our independence and professional integrity. As Overview Report authors we value the opportunity to work with the Serious Case Review Panel to receive the Individual Management Reviews, develop an understanding of the issues in the case and agree workable recommendations. However the final content of the report remains our responsibility.

Facilitating learning & staff support

We believe that Serious Case Reviews should be an opportunity to learn and move practice forward, and this is more likely to happen if those affected by the review are involved and kept informed throughout the process. Serious Case Reviews provoke enormous anxiety which should be acknowledged, and strategies put in place to support staff and relevant family members. We therefore always wish to work with our customers to make sure that we pay attention to this aspect of the process.

We aim to move beyond an approach which sets out to blame individuals, to one which looks at the whole system in order to understand the interacting factors which affected practice. We also aim to distinguish between professional practice which was reasonable given the level of knowledge and circumstances at the time, and lessons that need to be learnt in order to develop and improve practice in the future.

Understanding causes as well as events

Whether it is an Individual Management Review or an Overview Report we aim to understand why events happened as well as what occurred. This means that in most cases we would expect staff to be interviewed as part of the Individual Management Review and where possible the views of family members sought.

Also in our Serious Case Reviews section, you can read information about 'Commissioning a Serious Case Review' and 'what you can expect from In-Trac'. If you would like to discuss our Serious Case Review service further, please call 01428 641425.