Serious Incident Statistics
Dear Loughborough University,
A ‘serious incident’ is an adverse event, with significant harmful or potentially harmful consequences, and/or where the effectiveness of the university response is likely to have a significant impact on the health, wellbeing or welfare of a student, their family and/or the community.
Serious incidents should be investigated, in order to identify any factors that might have contributed towards the incident occurring, and the fundamental issues (or root causes) that underpin them. It affords a no-blame opportunity to review what happened; what was done well/ the good practise points; areas of concern, if there are any, and importantly what lessons can be learned.
UUK’s Suicide-Safer Universities (2018) guidance recommends that serious incident investigations be conducted following a student death. The need for such a report has been highlighted by Ministers and at least one Coroner. The sharing of experiences, best practises and relevant knowledge with others is similarly advocated. Serious incident investigations should also as a matter of course be carried out in cases of attempted suicide, near misses, parasuicide, and non-suicidal self-injury.
So, with regard to the health, wellbeing or welfare of one or more students. For each of the academic periods 2018-19, 2019-20 and 2020-21:
a) How many serious incident investigations has Loughborough University conducted?
b) How many serious incident reports has Loughborough University produced?
c) How many serious incidents involved a fatality?
d) How many serious incident reports and/or their findings has Loughborough University shared with other institutions?
e) How many serious incident reports and/or their findings have other institutions shared with you?
For each report in (d) and (e), please specify the different types of institution that were involved in the sharing e.g., other university, UUK, NHS, PHE, Mental Health Trust, OfS, DfE, etc
Yours sincerely
Johanna Langheld
Catherine Smethurst
Freedom of Information Officer
Academic Registry, Rutland Building, Loughborough University, Leics., LE11 3TU
Web: https://www.lboro.ac.uk/data-privacy/foi/
4 May 2021
Name: Johanna Langheld
Address: By email
Ref: FOI2305
Dear Ms Langheld,
I am writing in response to your Freedom of Information request. Please find below the information requested. Please accept my apologies for the delay in responding; the pandemic has created an enormous amount of additional work for both Student Services and the Academic Registry.
At Loughborough University, we hold regular meetings with the aim to maximise the safety of students, staff and others and protect the reputation of the University through a coordinated and consistent approach to cases that appear to involve a significant risk.
Risks to be brought to this meeting:
1. For members to bring to the attention of the group cases that appear to involve a significant risk to the student involved, other students, staff or others to ensure that risk is understood and shared. Cases may be new or involve significant new information.
2. For members to bring to the attention of the group cases that appear to involve a significant risk that the university will be non-compliant in meeting a statutory duty.
3. For members to bring to the attention of the group cases that appear to involve a significant reputational risk to the university.
Process
1. Using the experience, knowledge and understanding of the group, to seek to make an agreed/objective assessment of risk and urgency.
2. To assign a lead member to coordinate actions and maintain an oversight of issues concerning the specific student(s) involved.
3. To agree and assign specific actions designed to mitigate, contain or develop a better understanding of the risk.
4. To identify any necessary changes in practice and share with colleagues as appropriate.
5. To identify when we need to feedback concerns about the practice or procedure of external agencies.
6. To refer to Risk Management Group any cases where risk is managed but remains high.
These figures have not been included in the totals below as they do not meet your definition of a Serious incident review, however the University does actively look to manage a potential ‘serious incident’. If you would like additional information regarding these meetings, you are welcome to contact us.
Accordingly, the response to all questions within your FOI request is nil. Whilst our Health and Safety Team have conducted incident reviews where there has been an accident or potentially serious incident, none of these reviews involved the ‘health, wellbeing or welfare of one or more students’.
I hope this information is useful. If, for any reason, you are dissatisfied with the way in which your request for information has been handled, you may invoke the following complaints procedure: http://www.lboro.ac.uk/admin/ar/policy/f....
Yours sincerely,
Catherine Smethurst
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