Breast screening: interval cancers and duty of candour toolkit

Guidance from Public Health England on the role of breast screening and symptomatic services in identifying interval cancer and giving results to female patients.

Learning, Candour And Accountability: A Review Of The Way NHS Trusts Review And Investigate The Deaths Of Patients In England

This national review from the CQC has found that the NHS is missing opportunities to learn from patient deaths and that too many families are not being included or listened to when an investigation happens. The report looked at how NHS trusts across the country identify, report, investigate and learn from the deaths of people using their services.

Providing A 'Safe Space' In Healthcare Safety Investigations - Consultation

The DH proposal outlined in this consultation will legally ensure that information that staff provide as part of a health service investigation will be kept confidential except where there is an immediate risk to patient safety, or where the High Court makes an order permitting disclosure. This broadly mirrors the procedures followed in air accidents investigations. The closing date for comments is 16 December 2016.

Improving the safety of maternity care in the NHS

The safer maternity care action plan, designed to dramatically improve the safety of maternity care in the NHS, has been announced by the Health Secretary today.

The new measures will provide resources for trusts to improve their approach to maternity safety, including £8 million for multi-disciplinary training, with at least £40,000 available to each NHS trust in England. They also will make sure lessons are learned from mistakes and shared openly and transparently across the NHS. We will also consult on how to change the litigation culture, which can prevent openness and transparency, by taking views on a new voluntary compensation scheme as an alternative to costly legal processes.

NHS screening programmes: duty of candour

Guidance from Public Health England on applying duty of candour responsibilities and disclosing audit results in NHS screening programmes.

CQC launches an updated code of practice on confidential personal information

The CQC has updated the code its staff follow to obtain, handle, use and disclose confidential personal information.

The code explains how CQC makes decisions relating to people’s confidential personal information. This includes how we decide whether we need to look at medical or care records during an inspection, and whether we need to share personal information that we hold.

A Report on CQC Inspection Reports and Regulation of the Duty of Candour

This study by Action Against Medical Accidents finds that CQC inspections of NHS trusts in 2015 were inconsistent and often superficial in how they assessed compliance with the duty. The report calls on the CQC to make urgent improvements to how it regulates the duty of candour and makes several recommendations to that end.

Disclosure UK database

This database from the APBI brings together and makes publicly available the details of payments or benefits in kind - made to doctors, nurses and pharmacists, as well as other health professionals and healthcare organisations in the UK.