Duty of Candour

Annual Report 2024

All health and social care services in Scotland have a Duty of Candour. This is a legal requirement which means that when things go wrong and mistakes happen, the people affected understand what has happened, receive an apology, and that organisations learn from these mistakes and how to improve for the future.

An important part of this duty is that we provide an annual report about the Duty of Candour in our service.  This short report describes how our care service has operated our Duty of Candour during the period from 1st April 2023 up until 31st March 2024.  

During this period there were no incidents to which the Duty of Candour has applied.

When something happens that triggers the Duty of Candour, our staff will report this to the Service Manager who has responsibility for ensuring that the Duty of Candour Procedure is followed. The Manager records the incident and reports as necessary to the Care Inspectorate.  When an incident happens, the Manager will arrange a learning review to be held with the staff team. This allows everyone involved to review what has happened and identify changes for the future.

Our Management Team successfully completed the required training on Duty of Candour and the Handling of Complaints during 2018 followed by our direct care team in 2019. The staff team then completed a refresher course in June 2023. All new staff will learn about Duty of Candour at their induction.

We know that serious mistakes can be distressing for staff as well as for people who use care services and their families.  We have occupational welfare support available, through Healthy Working Lives, for staff affected by a Duty of Candour incident.