Honesty in the NHS

The long campaign, strongly supported by Boyes Turner, for a statutory duty of candour requiring medical staff to tell the truth when a serious error has been made is soon to come to fruition.

The duty will form part of statutory regulations setting out the “fundamental” standards which any provider of healthcare who has to be registered with the Care Quality Commission has to meet. These are due to come into force on 1st October.

The duty will now apply to ‘any significant harm’. The final regulations have not as yet been published.

The charity ‘Action against Medical Accidents’ did raise concerns about the version which was consulted upon earlier this year. It pointed out that if interpreted literally, the duty would only apply to actual harm which had already materialised. AvMA thinks that the duty should apply to incidents where something has gone wrong, for example at childbirth or in a diagnostic procedure, where there is a likelihood of future harm as a result, but the “harm” is not yet known.

We eagerly await news as to whether this point has been agreed and will also be monitoring guidance from the Care Quality Commission.

AvMA is also in discussion with the Departments of Health in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland about possible adoption of a duty of candour in those countries.