NHS screening programmes: duty of candour
Guidance on applying duty of candour responsibilities and disclosing audit results in NHS screening programmes.
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This publication provides advice to providers and commissioners of NHS screening programmes on best practice around duty of candour.
This relates to being open and transparent in providing information to individuals when they receive a positive diagnosis after a negative screening result. In this publication, screened or diagnosed ‘positive’ means the screening result was abnormal or the target condition was detected. Screened or diagnosed ‘negative’ means the result was normal or the target condition was not detected.
It advises organisations how to:
- ensure they are open and transparent with users of screening programmes
- ensure compliance with duty of candour regulations in these circumstances
- disclose results of audits undertaken following a diagnosis for a screened condition (positive) after a screening result that was reported as normal (negative)
Public Health England (PHE), which provides expert advice and support to the NHS, has produced this guidance working with clinical colleagues – the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and the Independent Cancer Patients’ Voice (ICPV).
This publication covers all 11 NHS Screening Programmes. Find out more about screening and, in particular, how all screening programmes have false positives and false negatives.
Many of the examples in this publication are from the NHS Breast Screening Programme (NHS BSP). This is because most queries about the application of duty of candour regulations in screening programmes have come from clinicians working in the NHS BSP. We will do further work following publication to collect examples from other NHS screening programmes and develop tools and training materials.
These will be shared through other routes such as the PHE Screening blog.
Last updated 5 October 2020 + show all updates
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Reformatted to be more accessible, guidance unchanged.
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Publication of guidance replaces former interim statement
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First published.