Patient safety incidents associated with failures in communication reported from critical care units in the North West of England between 2009 and 2014.

Communication is central to the safe and effective delivery of critical care. We present a retrospective analysis of hospital incident reports attributed to communication that were generated by 30 intensive care units in the North West of England from 2009 to 2014. We reviewed when during the critical care pathway incidents occur, the personnel involved, the method of communication used, the type of information communicated and the level of harm associated with the incident. We found that patient safety incidents tend to occur when patients are transferred into or out of the intensive care unit and when information has to be communicated to other teams during the critical care stay. We then examine ways that the patient handover process may be modified to improve communication and safety.