Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Mental Health and
Women's Health Strategy (): On 6 December 2023, I
informed the House that the Department of Health and Social Care
will lead a review into the effectiveness of the statutory duty
of candour for health and social care providers in England.
The duty of candour is set out in regulation 20 of the Health and
Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014. It
has been in place for NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts since
2014 and for all other providers regulated by the Care Quality
Commission since 2015.
The Duty of Candour is a crucial instrument for promoting an open
and transparent culture in health and social care, ensuring
patients and service users or their families receive a full
account of events, and a meaningful, timely apology when things
go wrong during the provision of health and care services.
Providers must also provide those affected with reasonable
support and details of further enquiries or investigations that
need to be made. The duty is about providers taking reasonable
steps to ensure they communicate with those affected in a way
that is as accessible and supportive as possible.
Today, I wish to inform the House that we are publishing a call
for evidence as part of the review. A call for evidence will
allow my Department to capture and consider a wide range of
views, including expert opinions, about how the duty is being
honoured, monitored and enforced, and the extent to which the
policy has met its objectives.
The call for evidence will run for 6 weeks and close on 29 May
2024.
We will consider all responses to the call for evidence and use
them to inform our recommendations for better meeting the policy
objectives of the duty of candour.
The call for evidence will be published on GOV.UK
