Table 4

Example patient safety reported concerns

Category	Mechanism	Classified as a PSI?	Example of patient-reported safety concerns
Medication	Paper-based form	PSI	For the past 3.5 hours I have been asking for pain medication every nurse I asked said “ok give me a minute and I'll get it” then they never did so I have been in huge pain the last 3.5 hours
	Paper-based form	Non-PSI	A patient was awaiting medication (Herceptin/Trastuzumab) coming up from pharmacy before commencing treatment. Her husband was taking time off work to accompany her and needed to go back to work. Her stress levels were visibly increasing as the time went by (approx. 2 h) of waiting
	Patient safety hotline	PSI	–
	Patient safety hotline	Non-PSI	Every time you go home (discharged) it takes 8 hours to get the medications prior to discharge. Option given to go home but this isn't possible
	Face-to-face interviewing	PSI	Patients are having to wait for medication because only a certain number of keys for drug cupboards. Patient having to wait in pain for too long. My pain gets worse then
	Face-to-face interviewing	Non-PSI	Patient asked for 5 days for nicotine patches so he could try and stop smoking, but has not received any nor any assistance in smoking cessation
General care	Paper-based form	PSI	Nebulizer I took over had not been cleaned out. Coffee all over it. Bugs and germs readily transferable. Reported to senior nurse, cleaned properly
	Paper-based form	Non-PSI	Nurse came into ward at midnight and woke me up to tell me I was being moved to another ward and would I pack my belongings
	Patient safety hotline	PSI	Patient has two hospital numbers. She looked at the nursing records at the end of the bed. They stated that she was registered twice and had two numbers and that it was being looked into
	Patient safety hotline	Non-PSI	No wipes to wipe the toilet seats. Had been wipes available before, but there's none now. This is an infection risk
	Face-to-face interviewing	PSI	I am diabetic and I was asleep at mealtime, the nurses didn't wake me up to eat and I had a hypo
	Face-to-face interviewing	Non-PSI	The staff are often too busy to bath me. I can't get in on my own, sometimes the staff don't wash me, I can't always do it myself as I have MS (multiple sclerosis)
Immediate care surroundings	Paper-based form	PSI	When emptying my drainage and stoma, the toilet cubicle had lying water on the floor. My portable catheter attachment fell into the standing water. I was concerned over the hygiene aspect
	Paper-based form	Non-PSI	Bed broken, would not come high enough for nurses to make the bed
	Patient safety hotline	PSI	–
	Patient safety hotline	Non-PSI	Toilets not clean. Patient had to clean them herself. Patient locker very dirty when first arrived. Nurse cleaned locker when asked to
	Face-to-face interviewing	PSI	The shower chair slopes—it isn't broken. You slide off it when you're in the shower
	Face-to-face interviewing	Non-PSI	Equipment being left out causes obstruction
Communication	Paper-based form	PSI	“I asked for a trolley to go to my ultrasound but was given a wheelchair. I was waiting 20 minutes in waiting room to return to my ward and I collapsed in my wheelchair nearly fell out of it.”
	Paper-based form	Non-PSI	There was a latex glove and other medical debris in the corner of the lift. The porter’s attention was brought to it but he said “I'm not picking that up—no way”
	Patient safety hotline	PSI	–
	Patient safety hotline	Non-PSI	Urine sample was left under the bed for a day and then thrown away. Patient told nurses it was there but they didn't take it and then it had to be thrown away
	Face-to-face interviewing	PSI	Pain in my chest—shortness of breath, light-headed. Should have been seen as in pain. They didn't check my medical history—wasted nearly 2 days in treatment by messing about. I was in pain—I couldn't lie down had to sit in the chair. Friday and Saturday couldn't give me pain killers said there is nothing wrong with the x-rays
	Face-to-face interviewing	Non-PSI	Waited several days for scans but not sure what the tests are for exactly or when I can start eating again
Service management	Paper-based form	PSI	–
	Paper-based form	Non-PSI	The room used for chemo outpatients is not big enough for the amount of equipment being used and the number of patients
	Patient safety hotline	PSI	–
	Patient safety hotline	Non-PSI	Patient asked for help with the coffee machine. Man stopped and helped him. Coffee came out but patient was trembling (?Parkinsons). Patient had hold of cup wasn't safe—‘man’ left him with this hot water. Long way to go with this hot cup of coffee. Risk of falls with slippage
	Face-to-face interviewing	PSI	–
	Face-to-face interviewing	Non-PSI	It's easy to get lost on the ward as there are no signs or indicators to orientate patients as to where they are

NB: where no example is provided, this is because there were no patient reports identified within the particular category.
PSI, patient safety incident.