The National Nosocomial COVID-19 Programme (NNCP) was established in direct response to the COVID-19 Pandemic. NHS Wales has legislation known as "National Health Service (Concerns, Complaints and Redress Arrangements) (Wales) Regulations 2011 – Putting Things Right (PTR), that sets out the requirements of what a Health Board/Trust must do when a patient safety incident occurs, and/or a complaint regarding NHS funded care is made. “Nosocomial” means - Any infection, including COVID-19, which is caught through the delivery of healthcare. An infection caught in hospital or through a healthcare setting is considered a patient safety incident, meaning the provisions of the Putting Things Right (PTR) process apply.
There is now an agreed National Framework and programme of work to support a consistent national approach towards investigations following patient safety incidents of nosocomial COVID-19, this programme of work has ministerial support.
The key outcomes of the programme are to provide high-level assurance that all patient safety incidents of healthcare acquired COVID-19 are investigated in line with the requirements of PTR, and to ensure concerns raised by patients and their families are fully addressed. The programme will collect learning from investigations and cross reference this with patient and staff experience, which will be captured as part of the programme.
This page aims to provide answers to some of the common questions asked regarding the programme. We acknowledge however that patients and families will have more detailed queries. At the end of this page, readers will find contact details for each Health Board and Trust, where individual queries can be raised and responded to directly by the appropriate organisation. Details of independent advocacy and bereavement support are also provided.