Doctors ‘to be made to confess clinical negligence incidents’

Posted 27/09/2009

New government proposals are being considered which would see NHS staff being compelled to confess and apologise if medical negligence leads to a patient being harmed.

Under the suggested measures, healthcare providers would be made to adhere to a legal “duty of candour”, which would involve doctors having to admit to and explain their errors should a patient be injured or killed.

The Guardian reports that the proposals already have the support of leading government officials, including chief medical officer Sir Liam Donaldson and health minister Ann Keen.

These initiatives are being discussed in response to the rising number of clinical negligence cases being brought against the health service, with £807 million being paid out to injured parties last year.

In a letter to Action Against Medical Accidents, Ms Keen said: “I agree that a culture of openness and transparency is vital when things go wrong in the provision of care.”

This comes after a study by the Imperial Centre for Patient Safety and Service Quality last week revealed that around a sixth of all patients being treated by the NHS are currently being misdiagnosed.

Sandra Patton, a clinical negligence specialist at Ashtons Legal, said: “Doctors already have a duty to be frank with patients but in our experience sadly this is all too often ignored in attempts to avoid legal claims.

“What doctors have never really understood or accepted is that if they were much more candid, explained what had happened and what steps had been taken to stop it happening again, many people would never embark on litigation in the first place.

“As specialists, we see time and again patients whose motivation for legal action is to get to the truth and to prevent it happening to anyone else.”