Methodology
How responses and stated actions are handled
When an organisation responds to a Prevention of Future Deaths report, PFD Monitor uses AI to identify the actions it says it plans to take, is taking, or has completed.
The response remains the authoritative source. PFD Monitor records what the organisation said; it does not independently check whether an action happened or whether it worked.
We identify who made the statement
A report may be sent to several organisations, and several responses may later be published on the same report page. PFD Monitor keeps each response connected to the organisation that wrote it.
If the source does not make that ownership clear, PFD Monitor does not guess. The response can be held for review until it can be attributed reliably.
AI identifies distinct actions
A stated action is a clear piece of work that a respondent says it intends to take, is taking, or has taken. Examples might include revising a policy, introducing training, changing a referral process, or installing equipment.
The AI aims to record each meaningful action once. Details such as timescales, approvals, monitoring arrangements, or examples may belong to the same action rather than becoming separate items.
A hope, possible option, or general intention is not treated as a planned action unless the response makes a clear commitment to identifiable work. Similarly, an organisation's description of somebody else's work is not recorded as its own action.
Example
A response might commit an organisation to introducing a new handover policy, training staff to use it, and auditing compliance after six months. Depending on how the work is described, these may form one connected programme or more than one distinct action. The AI considers whether readers reasonably count them as separate pieces of work.
We record the action's stated position
Where the response supports it, PFD Monitor describes an action as:
- Planned
- In progress
- Completed
- Partially completed
- Unclear
This status reports what the respondent said at the time. Completed means that the response described the action as completed; it is not independent confirmation that the work took place or achieved its aim.
Quality check
Every action keeps the respondent's original wording and supporting passage. Its shorter description and status must be supported by that evidence.
Not every response statement is an action
A respondent may disagree with a concern, say that existing arrangements are sufficient, explain that the matter is outside its remit, or say that no action is needed. PFD Monitor can record this as a respondent position where it helps readers understand the response.
Actions and positions are considered separately. A disagreement must not hide a genuine action described elsewhere in the same response, and a position must not be presented as work the organisation promised to do.
Connecting actions to concerns
One action may address several concerns, while one concern may be addressed by several actions. Some actions may not be linked to a specific concern if the response does not make the relationship clear.
PFD Monitor only creates a concern-action link when the response supports it. It does not infer the connection simply because the action and concern appear in documents on the same report page.
Interpret with care
A report recipient is not automatically responsible for every concern in the report. A stated action records what a respondent said, not whether the action was delivered, effective, or sufficient.
Read next
Corrections and feedback
If an action, status, position, or organisation appears to have been recorded incorrectly, readers can send us the relevant page and source passage for review.