Among a variety of current hot topics, two have particularly caught our attention this week. First, the proposed new contractual duty of candour - the requirement to voluntarily open up about mistakes and failures. Secondly (and this has been a repeated bugbear in recent months) how commissioning bodies can properly and lawfully delegate their decision making powers to ensure an efficient and streamlined decision-making process.
Attached are two briefing papers on those topics. The paper on the duty of candour discusses the practicalities and implications of imposing such a duty upon providers of care. This provides practical guidance on the pros and cons of various approaches to delegation designed to minimise the risk that a decision you make can later be challenged on procedural grounds.