Wrington Dental Centre

Duty of Candour

 

Wrington Dental Centre commits to a policy of compliance with Regulation 20 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014 by adhering to the following principles at all times:

1.  We will always act in an open and transparent way in our dealings with patients and all members of the dental team. We will encourage a culture of honesty in all our dealings.

2.  We will ensure that all staff members are aware of, and are trained and supported, in knowing their responsibilities in regard to a “duty of candour”.

3.  We will encourage and support staff members who report any incident, or any failure of this policy and will investigate and where necessary escalate fully any such reports. The individual responsible for investigation is either John O’Brien or Lisa House, and they will promptly appoint a deputy if there is a conflict of interest.

4.  No staff member will be victimised or harassed as a result of reporting an issue regardless of the seniority or permanency of the individuals involved.

5.  Where an error has occurred which has caused harm to any individual in the course of our work, we will openly admit the error and will apologise to the individual, or where appropriate to their parent or carer. We will follow up an immediate verbal apology in writing and will undertake to advise them of the outcome of our investigations on completion.

6.  We will ensure that all accounts of an error are complete and truthful.

7.  We will do our best to mitigate or correct any harm that has occurred and will provide support to persons affected.

8.  We will keep a record of all conversations and correspondence in connection with any such incident.

9.  We will notify the Care Quality Commission and any other appropriate body of any serious ‘Notifiable Safety Incident’ (those resulting in moderate or serious harm) as soon as possible.

10. We will adhere to the principles of the Being Open framework (http://www.nrls.npsa.nhs.uk/beingopen/?entryid45=83726)