We have made changes to our standards to ensure that registrant practice is open, honest and promotes learning from when things go wrong
Why?
Our changes set out a process for registrants to follow when things go wrong which better aligns with our guidance and gives registrants clear steps to follow at a time that is often challenging and stressful.
Specific standards:
Openness with service users and carers
- 8.1 You must be open, honest and candid when something has gone wrong with the care, treatment or other services that you provide by:
- Where applicable, alerting your employer of what has gone wrong and following the relevant internal procedures.
- Informing service users and/or where appropriate, their carer or where you do not have direct access to these individuals, the lead clinician, to inform them that something has gone wrong
- Providing service users and/or their carer with a detailed explanation of the circumstances in which things have gone wrong and the likely impact
- Taking action to correct the mistake if possible and detailing this action to the service user and/or where appropriate, their carer.
- 8.2 You must apologise to a service user and/or their carer when something has gone wrong with the care, treatment or other service that you provide.
Expectations of registrants:
- We have made changes to better support registrants by setting out a clearer process for registrants to follow when something has gone wrong with the care, treatment or other services that they provide (updated Standard 8.1). As part of this, registrants will need to know and understand their employer’s internal procedures.
- We have separated out the requirement to apologise to service users and/or their carer. This better highlights the centrality of apologising when things go wrong, and more clearly aligns it with our guidance. It also recognises apologising as a professional duty.
Resources
To support the consultation period, we hosted six workshops. These workshops explored each key theme of the consultation and provided an opportunity to ask questions about the revisions we have made.
You can watch a recording of the duty of candour workshop below.
The key changes in detail
The key changes in the revised standards conduct, performance and ethics can be grouped into a number of themes. The themes are:
Join a #myHCPCstandards webinar to learn about the changes
Our free #myHCPCstandards webinars support registrants with understanding changes to the standards and any adaptations they may need to make.
There are two sessions for each topic, covering the same information. Select a time below to register.
Introducing the revised standards and exploring your scope of practice
Getting it right when things go wrong
‘Send to all!’ Challenges and opportunities of social media
Attendance can count towards your continuing professional development (CPD).