Biannual incident report

The Biannual Incident Report provides a statewide snapshot of patient-related incidents and consumer feedback reported across NSW Health every six months. It explains how incidents are reported, reviewed and analysed to improve safety, support learning and promote transparency across the health system. This work is guided by NSW Health incident management policy (PD2020_047).

An incident is an unplanned event that results in, or has the potential for, injury, damage or loss. This includes near misses, where harm was avoided but could have occurred. An incident may also be referred to as an ‘adverse event’. ¹

NSW Health is committed to learning from incidents to improve safety across the health system. Staff are required to report all incidents involving patients (also known as clinical incidents), workers and visitors, as well as near misses, and consumer feedback. This helps identify risks to patient safety and supports action to prevent similar events from happening again.

Current reporting period from January to June 2025.

More about:

• NSW Health's incident data and investigation process
• Understanding the data
• Key terms in this report

References

1. Organisation for Economic Co-operation (OECD) (2017).