Ministers to propose candour duty for health and social care

All health or social care services in Scotland are to have a legal duty to tell people when harm has occurred during their care or treatment, under Scottish Government proposals to come out for consultation this week.

The Government already encourages reporting of "the small number of significant adverse events in the NHS", but the new statutory duty of candour would require services to make sure that they are open on every occasion. It would also require support to be in place for everyone involved and specific training for staff.

Ministers hope the move will "put transparency at the heart of our care and drive up standards of care offered".

Health Secretary Alex Neil said: “Scotland has some of the safest healthcare in the world. This is due to our world-leading patient safety programme and our commitment to report unintended events so that any learning can be taken from them.

“The Scottish Government strongly supports duty of candour and believes that all health and social care staff must be honest and transparent in everything that they do in order to best serve and protect those who rely on their services.

“Outlining our intention to put this important principle into legislation places a duty on every service to give an explanation to any person who suffers harm and, where appropriate, an apology."

Last week the Government opened a consultation on a proposed new offence of wilful neglect or mistreatment in health or social care situations. (Click here for report.)

Click here to view the consultation. The deadline for responses is 24 January 2015.