Being open refers to the Trust’s processes and culture for communicating adverse events with patients and their carers, staff and visitors.
Involving and communicating openly with patients, their relatives, their carers and the public is essential in improving patient safety. Being open about what has happened and discussing the problem promptly, fully and compassionately can help patients cope better with the after effects when things have gone wrong.
Through open communication in safety issues it is hoped that:
- Risks and patient safety problems will be proactively identified by patients
- Concerns and ideas for improvement from patients and the public will be shared
- Solutions generated in partnership with patients, all stakeholders and the public will be more realistic and achievable
The Duty of Candour is a legal duty for all health and social care organisations to inform and apologise to patients when things go wrong and harm has been caused. This CQC Regulation 20 is a statutory regulation and the Trust launched its Patient Safety, Being Open and Duty of Candour Policy in 2015, in response to this new regulation.
To meet the requirements of the regulation, the Trust is committed to:
- Making sure it has an open and honest culture across and at all levels within its organisation
- Telling patients in a timely manner when particular incidents have occurred
- Providing in writing an honest account of the incident and an explanation about the enquiries and investigations that we will undertake
- Offer an apology both verbally and in writing for the harm experienced
- Providing reasonable support to the patient involved after the incident
Full details of the Regulation 20: Duty of Candour can be found on the Care Quality Commission’s website by using the following link: http://www.cqc.org.uk/guidance-providers/regulations-enforcement/regulation-20-duty-candour