Potential severity assessment code17
| Rating | Description | Categories used in analyses |
| 1. | Incident is likely to have little or no effect on the patient | |
| 2. | Incident is likely to lead to an increase in level of care, for example, review, investigations, or referral to another clinician | Minor errors |
| 3. | Incident is likely to lead to permanent reduction in bodily functioning leading to, for example, increased length of stay; surgical intervention | Serious errors |
| 4. | Incident is likely to lead to a major permanent loss of function | |
| 5. | Incident is likely to lead to death |