Duty of Candour consultation launched: What do YOU think?
October 18, 2011
Posted by:Jo Chapman
A consultation has been launched on implementing a ‘Duty of Candour’, a contractual requirement on NHS providers to be open with patients when things go wrong with their healthcare. The aim is to ensure providers are open and honest with patients, or their families, and give them information about any investigations that have taken place or any lessons learned.
I think this is a great idea but difficult to interpret and enforce. For example, what is meant by "when things go wrong"? This must depend on your perspective. A patient might well consider that something has gone wrong when the outcome of medical treatment is not what he or she was led to expect but a medical professional might see the same outcome as an unfortunate consequence of the orginal condition or an acceptable risk of the medical intervention. Who is to be the judge of whether or not a doctor is being candid? To be candid one must know what one is being honest and direct about. In my experience, as a clinical negligence solicitor, it is frequently only after detailed "joined up" examination of the medical records and analysis by multiple independent experts, that it is possible to say whether or not "something went wrong" and, if so, what it was. In these situations, without this detailed forensic examination, how can one expect the treating doctor to know that something has gone wrong and, more to the point, how can an independent arbiter judge whether the doctor is being candid about it. The most one can expect is that the NHS is open, honest and transparent about investigating concerns of patients and their families but I cannot see that imposing a duty of candour is going make any difference to the current NHS complaints procedure, except, perhaps, in retrospect.
If you have concerns about medical treatment you have received please contact Jo Chapman, clinical negligence solicitor specialising in catastrophic injuries.