A resident in a care home has a spontaneous fracture resulting in surgery. As it was not the result of a fall or incident, is it a notifiable incident?

Answered by Sheila Scott

Dear S

Thank you for your question. Although this was a spontaneous fracture and not as a result of a fall or incident its important you notify CQC via your provider portal. It required a hospital admission and surgery so raise the notification under ‘Serious injury to a person using the service – notification form’. I would also notify your Local Authority Safeguarding team. Make sure you keep detailed notes of what happened, when it happened , who was there, if anyone and any information from the resident too. Before the resident is discharged it may be helpful to understand why it happened so you can have a plan in place to help prevent a similar incident arising again.