Organisational Duty of Candour – Scotland
When something goes wrong in health, care or social work, organisations need to know how to respond openly, communicate with the people affected and learn from what happened.
This course takes you through the Scottish organisational Duty of Candour process from the first response to an incident through to notification, apology, review, learning, record keeping and annual reporting.
For people working across Scottish health, care and social work
The course is suitable both for frontline staff who need to understand their role following an incident and for managers or responsible persons who may be involved in applying the organisational procedure.
What you will be able to do
Explain the purpose of organisational Duty of Candour and distinguish the organisation’s responsibilities from those of individual staff.
Recognise the statutory conditions that need to be considered when deciding whether the Duty of Candour procedure applies.
Describe what staff should do immediately after an incident and how concerns should be recorded, reported and escalated.
Understand the requirements around notification, accessible communication, meetings, support and meaningful apology.
Explain how incidents should be reviewed to identify contributing circumstances, learning and practical improvements.
Understand the requirements for Duty of Candour records, annual reporting and protecting the identity of individuals.
What the course covers
How you will learn
Throughout the course you will be asked to apply the guidance rather than simply memorise it.
Your Duty of Candour toolkit
Towards the end of the course you will receive a set of downloadable tools to help apply the learning in practice.
These include resources for incident response and escalation, management decision-making, communication and meetings, meaningful apology, incident review and annual reporting.
Completing the course
At the end of the course you will complete a short final assessment covering the key principles and practical application of organisational Duty of Candour.
Certificate: once you successfully pass the final assessment, your course certificate will unlock immediately.
Important: this course supports understanding and practical implementation of organisational Duty of Candour in Scotland. It should be used alongside your organisation’s own policies and procedures and the most current Scottish legislation, statutory guidance and regulatory information.
Start with the purpose behind the process
In Lesson 1, we begin by looking at what organisational Duty of Candour actually means, why it was introduced and the difference between being open when something goes wrong and simply completing another incident-reporting process.