Organisations that provide health, care and social work services need to be able to learn effectively from what goes well and from what goes wrong. These are opportunities to improve the safety and quality of services.
We endeavour to provide the best service possible to our patients however; we acknowledge that sometimes things can go wrong. If something goes wrong with your treatment or care, we have a duty to you or the person acting on your behalf to:
- Apologise
- Be open and honest
- Involve you in a review of what happened
- Let you know how they’ll learn from what’s happened
This is called ‘Duty of Candour’ and is a legal obligation for all health and social care providers.
At Cowdenbeath Medical Practice we follow the duty of candour procedure as laid out here in the https://www.gov.scot/policies/healthcare-standards/duty-of-candour/. We recognise that when unexpected or unintended incidents occur during the provision of treatment or care, openness and transparency is fundamental. This promotes a culture of learning and continuous improvement.
We pledge to:
- Have a culture of openness and honesty at all levels
- Inform patients or their families in a timely way when safety incidents have occurred which may affect them
- Fully investigate the incident
- Invite patients or their families to a meeting to discuss the incident
- Provide a written and truthful account of the incident, explaining any investigations and enquiries made
- Provide a written apology and details of any steps taken to prevent similar incidents happening again
- Provide support or information about support to patients or families impacted
Information for Patients
Organisational Duty of Candour – Patient information leaflet (PDF, 412KB)
Organisational Duty of Candour – What happens when things go wrong? (EXTERNAL PDF LINK)
Organisational Duty of Candour – What it means for me (EXTERNAL PDF LINK)
Duty of candour | NHS inform
Duty of Candour Annual Report
An important part of our responsibility is that we provide an annual report about the Duty of Candour. This short report describes how Cowdenbeath Medical Practice has operated the Duty of Candour during the time between 1 April 2024 and 31 March 2025.
In the last year, there have been no incidents to which the Duty of Candour applied.
Issued: Lisa Herd
Position: Practice Manager
Date: 1st April 2025