As a result of the Francis Inquiry, in April 2015 the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 (http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukdsi/2014/9780111117613) (the Regulations) will introduce a statutory duty of candour for independent health care providers. From that time, health care providers will be obliged to act following any ‘notifiable safety incident’, which is defined as:
‘Any unintended or unexpected incident that occurred in respect of a service user during the provision of a regulated activity that, in the reasonable opinion of a health care professional, could result in, or appears to have resulted in –
a. the death of the service user, where the death relates directly to the incident rather than to the natural course of the service user’s illness or underlying condition, or
b. severe harm, moderate harm or prolonged psychological harm to the service user.’
The Regulations do not define what constitutes an ‘incident’, however, following one, heath care providers will be expected to act ‘as soon as reasonably practicable’ and notify the relevant person, providing an accurate account of the incident, details of the next steps in terms of the investigation, and an apology. This new duty is intended to encourage a culture of openness and support, but many will be watching to see if it also leads to more claims of clinical negligence. How much of a shift this will be for heath care providers from their current practice remains to be seen, but failure to comply will be a criminal offence.
LNTV insight 