Duty of Candour
The Duty of Candour is an expectation that all health and social care professionals, including chiropractors, should act openly and honestly with their patients in the event things go wrong.
The Duty of Candour is an implied requirement of the GCC Code.
The guidance sets out professionals’ responsibility to be open and honest with patients when things go wrong with their care.
It sets out some specific requirements chiropractors must follow when things go wrong with care and treatment, including informing patients about the incident, providing reasonable support, providing truthful information and an apology when things go wrong.
Current Guidance
Candour Guidance (September 2023)
The Duty of Candour guidance was last updated on 1 September 2023.
The updates made to the guidance include
- an emphasis on an apology as a crucial part of the Duty of Candour - when something goes wrong with a patient’s care, apologising to the patient is always the right thing to do and is not an admission of liability.
- an emphasis that adverse events do not only apply to injuries arising from hands-on care but can also include, for example, therapeutic advice or information provided (or not provided) and care involving exercise prescription.
- a new section on being open and honest with patients about near misses and to use professional judgement when considering whether to tell patients about an adverse incident that has not caused (and will not cause) them harm.
The Regulators Joint Statement on Duty of Candour (2014)
Previous Duty of Candour Guidance (2016)
