Care Council for Wales consult on professional duty of candour guidance

The Care Council for Wales (CCW) is consulting on draft guidance for professional duty of candour which sets out that every member of the workforce should be accountable for the quality of their work.

This new inclusion to the CCW Code of Professional Practice for Social Care states for the first time: “You must be accountable for your work… this includes being open and honest with people if things go wrong, including providing a full and prompt explanation to your employer or the appropriate authority of what has happened.”

The new requirement derives largely from the Francis Report which contained 12 recommendations relating to honesty and transparency, following an inquiry in to the standards of care provided by the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust.

However, the latest draft practice guidance – Openness and Honesty When Things Go Wrong: The Professional Duty of Candour – aims to give practical advice on how such accountability can be achieved.

The guidance also sets out the definition of candour and how it can be achieved by individuals, whilst also outlining further responsibilities for managers and guidance on how organisations must support its staff to develop best practice.

Consultation on the draft guidance was launched on 1 December and the CCW would like to hear your views on its content, whether you feel it will achieve its aim of better equipping the workforce to deliver a citizen-centred service and how the guidance should be implemented.

To respond to the consultation, please visit: www.ccwales.org.uk/consultations/