Incident 1
Photographer attended ward 6 at WHC with 1 referral. Upon attending the ward there were a further 2 patients.
Consent form for the patient that was referred was photographed, patient then declined photography. Second patient didn’t have a consent form ready at time of photography. Verbal consent gained.
When filing the images in WABA, the consent form didn’t match the ID photo of the second patient.
Consent form for the second patient was not collected following the photography session.
Action Taken
Once error discovered, the ward were contacted and confirmed the ID of the second patient matched the images.
Consent form collected from the ward and filed with the correct images.
The patient that declined photography – note entered into WABA to confirm no photographs were taken.
2 new protocols produced for RWT and Walsall for when a patient declines photography.
Lessons Learned
If a photographer doesn’t have time to photograph additional patients, ask the ward to refer the patients and they will be allocated to a photographer when convenient.
If patient declines photography:
At Walsall:
Add a note on the consent form and photograph the consent form. Document in the notes that patient refused photography and upload consent form to WABA – see protocol WMH GPP8.
At RWT:
Document in the notes that the patient refused photography. Change the status to cancelled in Clinical Filemaker and enter a note that the patient refused photography. See protocol GPP16.
Before leaving the ward at WHC photographer must ensure they have consent forms for all patients photographed.
Incident 2
Department left unlocked at the end of the day due to misunderstanding regarding who had keys.
Action Taken
Senior photographers contacted and a member of the team returned the department to lock up.
Lessons Learned
All staff who have keys identified. Keys to be numbered and when swapped between photographers each Friday, the excel file will be updated by Debbie Somerfied, or Fiona Wright in her absence regarding who has which key for the coming week. Photographer who is working till 5pm will be identified daily and will be responsible for locking the department that evening. This will be identified on the daily briefings.
Incident 3
Tele-Dermatology patient at SaTh had a scale placed over a lesion by a HCA. Therefore the lesion was not photographed.
Action Taken
The lesion was picked up in clinic and once removed was diagnosed as a melonoma.
Ian Roth to do a presentation with photographers at SaTH and HCA’s regarding what happened and how to avoid in the future. Ian to clarify when a scale should be used when photographing lesions.
Lessons Learned
Clinical Photographers are responsible for reading the referral and ensuring that all lesions are photographed.