NHS trust fined for breaching its apology obligation over boy’s care
AN NHS trust has been fined for breaching its obligation to tell the family of a baby boy about failings in his care.
After the unnamed infant was admitted to Bradford Royal Infirmary in July 2016, there were delays in diagnosing his condition and missed opportunities to admit him for treatment.
Although it was recorded as a safety incident, the family did not get a formal written apology until that October – breaching the NHS Duty of Candour, a policy introduced in 2014 to require hospitals to be upfront with patients about incidents of harm.
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) said it issued Bradford Teaching Hospitals with a £1,250 fixed penalty notice for “failing to apologise to a family in a reasonable period of time”.
Professor Ted Baker, the CQC’s Chief Inspector of Hospitals, said: “Under the Duty of Candour, all providers are required to be open with patients or their families when something goes wrong that appears to have caused significant harm.
“The action that we have taken against Bradford Teaching Hospitals does not relate to the care provided to this baby, but to the fact that the trust was slow to inform the family in writing that there had been delays and missed opportunities in the treatment of their child.
“Patients or their families are entitled to the truth and a formal written apology as soon as practical after the incident, which didn’t happen in this case.”
A spokesperson for Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust said: “We would like to offer our apology and sincere condolences to the family involved in this incident. We are so very sorry for their sad loss.
“We identified and reported our breach in the Duty of Candour to the CQC ourselves. We co-operated fully with the investigation by the Care Quality Commission and have accepted the fixed penalty.
“Immediately after the breach was identified, we amended our policy and instigated a major staff awareness campaign.”