Duty of Candour
Occasionally, patients are involved in a safety incident when in our care. A small number of these incidents cause harm.
When things go wrong, we have a duty to inform our patients what has happened. This is very much part of our culture.
We are committed to talking to patients / carers at a very early stage to understand what has happened and, where necessary, learn to prevent them happening again to improve the safety of our future patients.
We do this by:
- Involving and informing you
- Investigating the incident
- Asking how much you, your relatives / carers wish to be involved in the investigation process
- Reviewing patients medical and nursing notes
- Talking to staff involved in the patient’s care
- Identifying the cause(s) of the incident
- Sharing our findings with patients, families, carers
- Sharing learning and improvements across the Trust
- Allowing you to ask any questions
A member of our clinical team will meet with you to talk to you about what went wrong. This will usually be the consultant or nurse looking after the patients. Your family or a friend can attend and be part of these conversations.
To note
The level of investigation undertaken will depend on the seriousness of the incident. This could take up to 60 working days or three months as a minimum. We will keep you informed of our progress along the way.
Continuous improvement
We believe that learning from mistakes (whether from complaints or incidents), leads to improvements.
If you wish to share your experience with us, please contact our Patient Advice and Liaison Service.