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Duty of Candour
Scotland 2024

Introduction

All opticians in Scotland have a duty of candour. This is a legal requirement, which means that when unintended or unexpected events happen that result in death or harm as defined in the Act, the people affected understand what has happened, receive an apology, and that organisations learn how to improve for the future.

An important part of this duty is that we provide an annual report about how the duty of candour is implemented in our services.

 

How many incidents happened to which Duty of Candour applies?

Between 1st April 2023 and 31st March 2024 there were no incidents where the duty of candour applied.

 


Type of unexpected or unintended incident


Number of times this happened


Someone has died


0


Someone has permanently less bodily, sensory, motor, physiologic or intellectual functions

0


Someone’s treatment has increased because of harm

0


The structure of someone’s body changes because of harm

0


Someone’s life expectancy becomes shorter because or harm

0


Someone’s sensory, motor or intellectual function is impaired for 28 days or more

0


Someone experienced pain or psychological harm for 28 days or more

0


A person needed health treatment in order to prevent them dying

0


A person needed health treatment in order to prevent other issues

0

 

Information about our
policies and procedures

We have many Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) to ensure we keep our patients and customers safe. Including specific Guides on Accident Reporting. All colleagues are trained on Health and Safety as part of their initial training with us and then are reviewed annually as part of our mandatory training.

When something goes wrong, this is escalated to the Professional Services team, who investigate and where required; an action plan is put in place to ensure appropriate learnings and changes take place.

If the duty of candour process is triggered, the Professional Services team follow the process with the relevant person.

All our Optometrist, Optical Managers, Dispensing Opticians and retail colleagues are trained on the duty of candour and support is available for any colleagues affected by a duty of candour incident.  Colleague are aware of where the General Optical Council guidance on Duty of Candour can be found and our policies are all available on our intranet for all colleagues.

More information about Duty of Candour in Scotland can be found here:

Organisational duty of candour: guidance - gov.scot (www.gov.scot)

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