Unit name: Duty of Care
Learning outcome: 1. Understand the implications of duty of care
Assessment criteria: 1.2 Describe how duty of care relates to duty of candour
Duty of candour is the responsibility of all healthcare professionals to be open, honest and transparent towards the people that they care for.
When mistakes are made, the duty says that the healthcare professional must admit to the errors, apologise to the care receiver/patient (or their advocate), explain the actual and potential effects of the error and offer options to repair the damage (or support to manage the damage if a remedy is not possible).
Duty of care is similar to duty of candour in that it places the care receiver at the forefront of the care process and ensures that health professionals are looking out for their best interests and are transparent in their practice. DUty of care, however, is concerned with day-to-day obligations towards care receivers, whereas duty of candour is more of a set of rules that should be followed if an error is made.