NI: Consultation on statutory duty of candour to be launched next month

NI: Consultation on statutory duty of candour to be launched next month

Robin Swann

Proposals to introduce a statutory duty of candour in the healthcare system will go out to consultation next month.

Health Minister Robin Swann yesterday told MLAs that a 16-week public consultation would open on Monday 12 April 2021.

“A statutory duty of candour would create a legal responsibility for all healthcare organisations and individual staff to be honest when things go wrong,” he said in a written statement.

“This duty would not just apply to being open and honest with patients, but also include the need to be open and honest within organisations when reporting adverse incidents or near misses that may have led to harm.”

The consultation will form part of the Northern Ireland Executive’s work to implement the recommendations of the Inquiry into Hyponatraemia-related Deaths (IHRD) led by Mr Justice O’Hara.

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