Nurses say their Datix reports are often ignored or downgraded, even – or sometimes especially – when reporting safe staffing or safeguarding issues. This is demoralising, they say, and experts warn it can also discourage healthcare staff from raising serious patient safety concerns, for fear of repercussions or because they believe nothing with happen. Experts say incident reports should be used for learning and improvement rather than punishment or blame and call for transparency, training and a culture that encourages staff to report safety concerns without fear