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Duty of Candour – a guide for patients and carers
Duty of Candour is a law that ensures we’re open and honest with our patients and families. One of the main aims of the Duty of Candour is that you can have trust in us to be honest with you about your care and treatment, especially if there are problems.
What incidents are affected by the Duty of Candour
Duty of Candour applies when there has been a serious incident which has resulted in:
- Moderate or severe harm to a patient as the result of an unexpected or unintended incident
- Prolonged psychological harm to a patient likely to last for at least 28 days
- Death of a patient
What you can expect from us
Although we will always try to stop such incidents, unfortunately there are times when something may happen that’s detrimental to our care. On those occasions we will:
- Tell you and/or your carers what has happened and apologise.
- Provide you and/or your carers with a true and accurate account of all the facts, and keep you updated at every stage until the investigation is over.
- Provide reasonable support to you and/or your loved ones.
- Let you and/or your loved ones ask any questions.
- Undertake further investigation and identify the cause/s of the incident.
- Write to you and/or your family to confirm the information already provided to date, the outcome of the investigation, and a further apology.
- Offer a follow-up meeting to discuss the outcome of the investigations, if required.
Can you still make a complaint?
Duty of Candour does not affect your right to complain. You can make a formal complaint if you’re not happy with any aspect of your care.