What’s happening?
From 30 November 2022, there is a legal obligation for Victorian health services to deliver a sincere apology to a patient or their family when they have suffered moderate to serious harm following a serious adverse patient safety event (SAPSE).
What is it, and who does it apply to?
The Statutory Duty of Candour (SDC) complements and elevates existing commitments to Open Disclosure.
Open disclosure is the open discussion about an adverse event that result in harm to a patient while receiving health care. It involves open, effective and honest communication with patients and their families/carers to acknowledge, and learn from, any adverse event.
All Victorian health services must comply with the new legislation and Duty of Candour guidelines.
What are the requirements?
Under the Statutory Duty of Candour legislation, clinical incident investigation, reporting and open disclosure will become legal duties rather than policy-driven practices.
If a patient suffers a SAPSE while receiving health care, health services are obligated to provide the patient with:
- An apology or expression of regret, which should include the words ‘I am sorry’ or ‘we are sorry’ (within 24hrs of confirmation)
- A written account of the facts regarding the event
- A description of the health service response to the event
- An explanation of the steps being taken to manage the adverse event and prevent re-occurrence.
It’s important to remember that open disclosure is not a one-way provision of information. Providing information to the patient and their support person is as important as hearing their views of events.
New training module available on LATTE
A new training module, ‘Introduction to Open Disclosure’, has been developed by Safer Care Victoria to support health services with the Statutory Duty of Candour.
The training package is now available on Latte, and, as a targeted training module, will automatically be assigned to employees based on role.
The training takes about 30mins to complete and provides information on the elements of the open disclosure process and why it is important. Don’t forget that you can pause and return to a training module if you need, and that training can be accessed remotely.
The new training package replaces Monash Health’s current Open Disclosure course. All employees who were expected to complete the previous ‘Open Disclosure’ course (JMS, SMS, General Managers, Nurse & Midwife Managers/Coordinators, Directors Clinical Operations) will be expected to complete the new ‘Introduction to Open Disclosure’ module (once only) as soon as possible.
Additionally, members of the Patient Experience team will also be required to complete the new package to support the program in delivering the process.
Local managers may also direct individual employees to complete the training if there is a need for them to be informed.
More information and resources coming soon
More information, including an incident flowchart and timeframes, will soon be available on Prompt.
To assist with monitoring and reporting, an ‘EMR verbal apology Power Form’ QRG is being developed and will be available shortly.
Approved by Anjali Dhulia.