Wednesday 12 November 2014

Guidelines for doctors and nurses call for more openess

A consultation is underway on how doctors, nurses and midwifes can be more open and honest when things go wrong.
Draft guidance for a 'duty of candour' has been produced by the General Medical Council and the Nursing and Midwifery Council – the regulators for individual health professionals. It will support doctors, nurses and midwives in fulfilling their professional duty to be open and honest about mistakes.
This follows on from work being carried out by the Care Quality Commission to help NHS trusts understand how they can meet the upcoming duty of candour and fit and proper persons regulations. This will help providers have robust systems in place to be open and honest when things go wrong and to hold directors to account when care fails people.
The legislation underpinning these is currently subject to Parliamentary approval.
Professor Sir Mike Richards, Chief Inspector of Hospitals, said: "The draft guidance for health professionals is a welcome move to make the NHS more open and honest when things go wrong, and to move away from a blame culture.
"This supports our wider work on helping organisations to meet the Government’s new regulations so that those who provide health services in the NHS are more accountable."

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