GovWire

The Department of Health and Social Care will lead a review into the effectiveness of thestatutory duty of candour for health and social care providers in England.

Theduty of candour is about peoples right to openness and transparency from their health or care provider. It means that when something goes wrong during the provision of health and care services, patients and families have a right to receive explanations for what happened as soon as possible and a meaningful apology.

The duty of candour is set out inregulation 20 of the Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014.The duty has been in place for NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts since 2014 and for all other providers regulated by the Care Quality Commission since 2015.