Health System Quality

Serious Reportable Events

As part of our efforts to improve patient safety and identify opportunities for system-wide improvements, serious patient safety incidents must be reported to the Department of Health and Wellness in accordance with the  Serious Reportable Event Reporting Policy. This allows the health system to monitor, measure and evaluate serious reportable event data.

Serious reportable events (SREs) are a subset of patient safety incidents and are classified according to the following six categories. An SRE is to be part of the quarterly report for the quarter in which it is discovered. SREs newly discovered from past reporting quarters will be reported in the quarter they are discovered but will be identified or noted separately as having occurred in an earlier quarter.   Note: for the purpose of these definitions, the word "patient" is used to represent a client, resident or patient.

Surgical events include incidents that occur during surgical, endoscopic or other major invasive procedures.

Product or device events include incidents that occur due to use or malfunction of equipment/devices, or contaminated medications or blood products.

Patient protection events include incidents that occur related to patient safety, security or conduct

Care management events include incidents that occur during the provision of patient care.

Environmental events include incidents that occur as a direct result of the immediate physical environment or due to patient falls.

Regulatory and Potential Criminal Events include incidents that occur that are related to health profession regulations or alleged illegal activity by another person.

EHS Prehospital Care Events include incidents that occur while receiving care from Emergency Health Services personnel prior to arrival at a hospital.

Health care professionals at the Nova Scotia Health Authority and the IWK Health Centre began providing information to the province on serious events in January 2014. Data is not available prior to this date.

Serious Reportable Event Interim Reporting 2024-2025 Apr - Jun Jul - Sep Oct - Dec Jan - Mar
1. SURGICAL EVENTS   0    
 
2. PRODUCT OR DEVICE EVENTS   0    
 
3. PATIENT PROTECTION EVENTS   1    
 
4. CARE MANAGEMENT EVENTS   5    
 
5. ENVIRONMENTAL EVENTS   4    
 
6. REGULATORY AND POTENTIAL CRIMINAL EVENTS   3    
 
7. EHS PRE-HOSPITAL CARE EVENTS*        
 
TOTAL of all Categories   13    

The Serious Reportable Events Reporting Policy has been revised starting from Q2 2024-25. Changes were made to some definitions, event categories and event types. The Q1 2024-25 data has been archived because it reflects the older version of the policy.

Why is it important to share this information?

Making this information available to the public raises the level of accountability – and demonstrates a commitment to transparency and openness. The goal is to share lessons learned and prevent the event from happening again. This new province-wide data will help us understand what's happening across the system. This information will enhance patient safety by improving and standardizing the way serious events are reported.

How is this measured?

The NSHA and the IWK must report the aggregate number of serious reportable events for each category as defined above on a quarterly basis.  The Department of Health and Wellness collects and analyzes the data.

When will new information be published? 

Quarterly results will be updated 35 business days following the end of each fiscal year quarter. Fiscal year quarters are:
Q1: Apr. 1 – Jun. 30
Q2: Jul. 1 – Sep. 30
Q3: Oct. 1 – Dec. 31
Q4: Jan. 1 – Mar. 31


Archived Data

Download the 2024-25 Q1 data (PDF)

Download the 2023-2024 data (PDF)

Download the 2022-2023 data (PDF)

Download the 2021-2022 data (PDF)

Download the 2020-2021 data (PDF)

Download the 2019-2020 data (PDF)

Download the 2018-2019 data (PDF)

Download the 2017-2018 data (PDF)

Download the 2016-2017 data (PDF)

Download the 2015-2016 data (PDF)

Download the 2013-2014 and 2014-2015 data (PDF)