Duty of candour

A culture of openness, honesty and transparency

Occasionally, patients are involved in a safety incident when in our care. A small number of these incidents cause harm.

When things go wrong, we have a duty to inform our patients what has happened. This is very much part of our culture.

We are committed to talking to patients/carers at a very early stage to understand what has happened and, where necessary, learn to prevent them happening again to improve the safety of our future patients.

• Involving and informing you
• We will investigate the incident and:
• Ask you how much you, your relatives/carers wish to be involved in the investigation process
• Review patients medical and nursing notes
• Talk to staff involved in the patient’s care
• Identify the cause(s) of the incident
• Share our findings with patients, families, carers
• Sharing learning and improvements across the Trust
• Let you ask any questions

A member of the NUH clinical team will meet with you to talk to you about what went wrong. This will usually be the consultant or nurse looking after the patient. Your family/a friend can attend this meeting and be part of these conversations.

The level of investigation undertaken will depend on the seriousness of the incident and will take up to 60 working days (3 months) as a minimum. We will keep you informed of our progress along the way.

 

Continuous improvement

We have a strong reporting culture at our hospitals, which is a sign of a strong safety culture.

We believe that learning from mistakes (whether from complaints or incidents), leads to improvements.

If you wish to share your experience with us, please contact the Patient Experience team: QMCPET@nuh.nhs.uk or 0115 924 9924 Ext 66623.