Dentists in Scotland are being reminded that their practices have to publish their Duty of Candour annual report as soon after 1 April 2019 as possible.

The purpose of the Duty of Candour procedure (https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Health/Policy/Duty-of-Candour) is to support implementation of consistent responses across health, social work, and social care providers when there has been an incident that has resulted in unintended or unexpected harm that is not related to the course of the condition for which the person was receiving care.

These reports should be completed by the named 'responsible person' at the practice, as set by each health board.

BDA Expert Members can access a template to help produce the annual report.

The report must contain:

  • Details of the number and nature of Duty of Candour incidents which occurred in the practice that year

  • An assessment of how the Duty of Candour procedures were carried out

  • Information about the practice's Duty of Candour policies and procedures, including both the procedures for identifying and reporting incidents and the support available to staff and patients affected by incidents

  • Information about any changes made to the above policies after a duty of candour incident occurred

  • Any other information the responsible person feels is relevant.

In addition, the report must not mention any person's name nor contain any information which might identify any person.

All practices should publish the report in any appropriate way such as on its website or making it readily available within the surgery.

Once the report has been published, the provider must send it to one of two places:

  • If the practice is wholly private, it must be sent to Healthcare Improvement Scotland, using the eForms system (https://hisportal.scot.nhs.uk/Account/Login?ReturnUrl=/)

  • If the practice is running an NHS or mixed practice, it should be emailed it to the Duty of Candour Lead within the practice's relevant NHS Board (https://www2.gov.scot/Topics/Health/NHS-Workforce/NHS-Boards).