It’s important to have policies and procedures in place for when things go wrong, so you can make sure that there are clear accountabilities and that important lessons are learned and acted upon.
Having a comprehensive incidents management policy is a requirement of major standards regimes and a cornerstone of safety in the care services sector. Incident management has also been a major focus of recent reforms across both Aged Care and Disability Services.
Furthermore, the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare recently released the updated Australian Open Disclosure Framework 2026, which replaced the 2014 version of the framework.
Incident Management Systems
Sometimes bad things happen in connection with services. After making sure that there is no ongoing danger, incidents must be recorded, and efforts must be taken to ensure that they do not happen again.
In a number of service contexts, incidents or conduct must be reported to an appropriate authority within a required timeframe. Organisations must ensure that workers are trained to recognise, manage and report incidents in line with their legal requirements and the organisation’s internal incident management processes.
We have developed a comprehensive suite of resources relating to incident management. We have recently updated these resources to ensure that they are readily adaptable to various organisational contexts:
This includes:
Policy: Incident Management and Procedures
Incident Report Templates
Incident Investigation Templates
Incident Register Templates
Open Disclosure
Open disclosure is an approach to communicating with service users when things go wrong, which puts honesty and empathy first. Everyone has the right to make decisions based on informed consent, and a good understanding of the risks associated with their care. This also means that they have the right to be told when things have gone wrong, and what happened.
The Australian Open Disclosure framework provides a comprehensive framework for health service providers which outlines when and how open disclosure should occur. It includes important considerations such as:
- Acknowledging adverse events and giving clear apologies;
- Approaches to supportive, honest and open communication with service users;
- Creating a culture of safety and accountability; and
- Implementing lessons to support continuous improvement.
Open disclosure is an ethical approach which is adaptable and important for service providers in various contexts. For example, open disclosure is a requirement of Aged Care providers. Under the Statement of Rights, individuals receiving aged care services have the right to person-centred care, open communication with providers, and the right to raise and discuss issues without fear of reprisal.
Open disclosure is a cornerstone of an organisation’s broader feedback, complaints and incidents management system, and a central component of continuous improvement. Engaging in open disclosure with service users helps to build or rebuild trust in the organisation when things have gone wrong, and reassure service users, their supporters and others that the organisation is working towards improvements. Effective open disclosure processes ensure accountability without blame, and give service users opportunities for agency when they’ve been affected by an incident.
In light of the updates to the Australian Open Disclosure framework, we’ve reviewed and revised our Policy: Open Disclosure to reflect the key elements of the framework and ensure providers are engaging in current best practice open disclosure procedures.
Ready to review your incident management processes?
SPP’s suite of resources is your best first step.
