Duty of candour

Our duty of candour

In February 2015 the Board published a Duty of Candour:

The Board of Directors of Alder Hey Children’s NHS Foundation Trust is fully committed to ensuring that our organisation provides the highest quality care and is open and honest with the people who use our services.

We strive to do this by supporting our staff and having in place systems and processes that provide the right environment for lessons to be learned and changes made when things go wrong, in order to continuously improve. Our practice is underpinned by a robust policy on ‘Being Open’ and by the Trust’s Values, which specifically include Openness.

We will fulfil our duty of candour to patients and families by:

• Making sure we act in an open and transparent way with our patients and families
• Telling patients and families in person as soon as reasonably practicable after becoming aware that a notifiable safety incident has occurred and providing support to them in relation to the incident, including when giving the notification
• Providing an account of the incident which, to the best of our knowledge, is true of all the facts we know about the incident as at the date of the notification
• Advising patients and families what further enquiries we believe are appropriate
• Offering an apology
• Following this up by giving the same information in writing and providing an update on the enquiries
• Keeping a written record of all communication with those involved