Every healthcare professional must be open and honest with patients when something that goes wrong with their treatment or care causes, or has the potential to cause, harm or distress. Services must tell the patient, apologise, offer appropriate remedy or support and fully explain the effects to the patient.
As part of our responsibilities, we must produce an annual report to provide a summary of the number of times we have trigger duty of Candour within our service.
| Name & address of service: | Diverse Diagnostics, Suite 7, Tribune Court, 2 Roman Rd, Bearsden, Glasgow | |
| Date of report: | April 2024 – March 2025 | |
How have you made sure that you (and your staff) understand your responsibilities relating to the duty of candour and have systems in place to respond effectively? How have you done this? | All staff, both new and existing, are required to review clinic policies annually to ensure they remain informed of all operational processes. Moreover, Diverse Diagnostics holds an annual training and development day to review key topics and updates. Daily team meetings are conducted to address any pertinent issues or concerns and to triage the clinic's workload. Additionally, every Thursday, a 'Lunch and Learn' session is held to discuss complaints and review lessons learned to enhance practice and service delivery. | |
| Do you have a Duty of Candour Policy or written duty of candour procedure? | YES | NO |
| How many times have you/your service implemented the duty of candour procedure this financial year? | ||
| Type of unexpected or unintended incidents (not relating to the natural course of someone’s illness or underlying conditions) | Number of times this has happened (April 2024 - March 2025) | |
| A person died | 0 | |
| A person incurred permanent lessening of bodily, sensory, motor, physiologic or intellectual functions | 0 | |
| A person’s treatment increased | 1 | |
| The structure of a person’s body changed | 0 | |
| The structure of a person’s body changed | 0 | |
| A person’s sensory, motor or intellectual functions was impaired for 28 days or more | 0 | |
| A person experienced pain or psychological harm for 28 days or more | 0 | |
| A person needed health treatment in order to prevent them dying | 0 | |
| A person needing health treatment in order to prevent other injuries as listed above | 0 | |
| Total | 1 | |
Did the responsible person for triggering duty of candour appropriately follow the procedure? If not, did this result is any | No duty of candour was triggered. The patient mentioned above alleged that they were not informed of the medication's side effects. The patient experienced psychosis. Upon receiving the complaint, the clinic immediately followed the complaints procedure and took prompt action to resolve the issue, ensuring that the patient's health was prioritised. Other complaints received by the office that do not meetthe criteria outlined above. Other complaints were non- clinical and beyond the scope of the office's operations. |
| What lessons did you learn? | Office management emphasised the importance of maintaining accurate and comprehensive clinical notes to ensure that patient records accurately reflect the services provided by the clinic. This practice is essential in safeguarding the integrity of medical documentation, ensuring compliance with regulatory standards, and facilitating continuity of care. Moreover, in the event of a complaint or dispute, well-documented records serve as evidence of the services provided. |
| What learning & improvements have been put in place as a result? | The clinic has continued and increased training available for all staff. |
| Did this result is a change / update to your duty of candour policy / procedure? | No changes. |
| How did you share lessons learned and who with? | All complaints are documented to ensure that the clinic maintains a comprehensive record of all reported issues and the corresponding resolutions. This process provides valuable insights into operational improvements over time, demonstrating the effectiveness of implemented changes each year. |
| Could any further improvements be made? | Diverse Diagnostics strives to adapt to every change, whether big or small, in response to complaints |
| What systems do you have in place to support staff to provide an apology in a person-centred way and how do you support staff to enable them to do this? | All staff must familiarise themselves with the complaints policy. If a complaint is received, staff should apologise for any inconvenience caused and promptly refer the matter to the Practice Manager. The clinic ensures that a discussion is held between the complainant and the Practice Manager to listen to their concerns, acknowledge it, address the issue, and explore possible solutions. The clinic is committed to delivering the highest standard of patient-centred care and continuously strives to improve the patient experience. |
| What support do you have available for people involved in invoking the procedure and those who might be affected? | Depending on the severity of the complaints, advice and support from the Medical Director will be provided. Where possible, necessary modifications will be implemented to enhance the clinic's operational processes. Additionally, a written apology will be issued, and a refund will be processed as appropriate. |
| Please note anything else that you feel may be applicable to report. | n/a |
| IHC Duty of Candour Template for Providers | |
| Date: | 19 February 2019 |
| Review Date: | Ongoing |
| Version: | 1.0 |
| Produced by: | IHC team |
| Circulation type (internal/external): | Both |
Suite 7 Tribune Court,
2 Roman Road,
Bearsden,
Glasgow G61 2SW
