Duty of Candour Template

This resource, Duty of Candour Template, is part of our growing library of practical patient safety material. It is placeholder content for design and will be replaced with real copy.

Documentation should support learning, not replace it. The goal is a shared understanding that the whole team can act on.

A practical example

Small, well-supported changes that stick will always outperform ambitious changes that quietly fade once attention moves elsewhere.

Curabitur tincidunt, nisi nec mattis fermentum, est lorem porta urna, sed dignissim arcu velit non risus, ut posuere sapien.

Getting started

• Keep language plain, respectful and free of blame
• Focus on a small number of high-value improvements
• Start from how work is really done, not how it is described on paper
• Involve patients, families and staff as partners in the process

Where teams get stuck

Patient safety work rarely fails for a single reason. More often, outcomes emerge from the interaction of people, tools, processes and the wider system around them.

1. Review and share what was learned
2. Map what happened and who was involved
3. Explore the conditions and contributing factors
4. Identify the most promising opportunities to improve

Good learning responses are proportionate, inclusive and focused on change that lasts.

Taking a systems view means looking beyond individual actions to the conditions that shaped them. This shift in perspective is the foundation of meaningful learning.

Back up to download resource