Duty of Candour & Incident Reporting

This self-paced awareness course uses eight Modules and original fictional activities. Explore everyday openness, recognising events, immediate safe support, provider-specific candour decisions, accessible communication, records, notifications and learning. It supports knowledge development and preparation for care roles; it does not award a regulated qualification or clinical/practical competence.

What you need

✓ No formal qualification prerequisite is specified.
✓ Use an accessible internet-enabled device and a way to read or hear the teaching.
✓ Fictional activities do not require employment or access to real care records. Employer procedures, training, authorisation and competence checks remain separate.

Learning time

Approximately 2 hours 57 minutes including video learning, self-study and the final assessment. Individual pace varies.

Module 1 — Openness and the Duty of Candour

Openness includes acknowledging concerns, giving an accurate account within your role and seeking help when information is incomplete. It continues even when the additional notifiable-safety-incident procedure does not apply. Do not conceal an incident while deciding how serious it is.

By the end of this Module, learners will be able to:

✓ Distinguish everyday openness, worker reporting and the registered person’s statutory candour process.

At a fictional home, Nadia learns that an agreed visit was late. Alex says the delay was worrying. Nadia knows when she arrived but does not know why the earlier worker was delayed.

Module 2 — Recognising Incidents and Near Misses

A hazard is a source of possible harm. An incident or error is an event; local reporting definitions explain how to record it. A near miss can reveal a system weakness despite no resulting harm. Reporting and learning are needed without automatically calling every event a statutory notifiable safety incident.

By the end of this Module, learners will be able to:

✓ Identify events needing reporting without treating every hazard or near miss as statutory candour.

A worker finds a wet walkway before anyone uses it. In a separate event a person is found after an unwitnessed fall and sent for assessment; the clinical outcome is not yet known.

Module 3 — Immediate Safety and Internal Reporting

Address immediate danger and obtain appropriate help. Continue safe support within your competence and follow the person’s current plan and emergency arrangements. This course supplies no first-aid, medication, transfer, restraint or equipment-repair technique.

By the end of this Module, learners will be able to:

✓ Explain safe support, prompt reporting and urgent escalation within competence.

At 14:10, Ben finds a person beside a damaged chair. Ben did not see what happened. A trained colleague is obtaining the required urgent support; the normal supervisor is unavailable.

Module 4 — Provider Duties and Thresholds

Regulation 20 distinguishes a health service body in paragraph 8 from other registered persons in paragraph 9. The appropriate definition follows the provider and regulated activity; the building name or a worker’s job title is not enough. Frontline workers report; authorised people establish the legal application with healthcare-professional judgement.

By the end of this Module, learners will be able to:

✓ Explain why authorised provider assessment must use the correct Regulation 20 definition.

A non-health-service-body provider receives a report that a person attended hospital after a care incident. The record contains no confirmed harm findings or professional opinion.

Module 5 — Communication, Apology and Support

Speak respectfully and make communication accessible to the person. Explain known facts without guessing causes or promising an outcome. Offer reasonable support and arrange competent help with communication needs. Record preferences and any agreed next contact.

By the end of this Module, learners will be able to:

✓ Describe honest, accessible communication and formal candour support within the assigned role.

Morgan asks for an explanation after a reported incident and requests an interpreter. A relative also asks to receive all information. No permission or lawful authority for that disclosure has been established.

Module 6 — Accurate Records and Notifications

Records must identify observations, the person’s own account, actions, timing and who was informed. Distinguish a witnessed fact from a report or hypothesis. Correct errors transparently through the approved process; do not erase the original, backdate an entry or invent care.

By the end of this Module, learners will be able to:

✓ Separate internal records, candour correspondence and CQC statutory notifications.

At 09:05, Erin hears a person say “the chair moved”. Erin did not see the event. The shift lead was told at 09:08. No injury assessment or contact with family is recorded.

Module 7 — Learning and Improvement Actions

An incident review should examine evidence, system conditions and the person’s experience. Competent staff establish causes; a worker should not investigate beyond their role or assume misconduct. A report or training attendance alone does not show that the underlying risk has been removed.

By the end of this Module, learners will be able to:

✓ Explain a proportionate learning action with ownership and a check of effectiveness.

A fictional review finds that staff were using two conflicting handover forms. The cause has been confirmed by the authorised reviewer. The proposed response is to introduce one controlled form.

Module 8 — Role-Based Incident Scenarios

Combine immediate support, factual reporting, openness and appropriate provider review. Treat each issue separately: a safety concern, a request for information and a notification decision do not have identical owners or urgency.

By the end of this Module, learners will be able to:

✓ Apply worker and authorised-provider responsibilities without inventing missing facts.

At a fictional home, an unwitnessed event is reported. A person is receiving urgent assessment; their relative requests a full explanation. The usual manager cannot be reached, and a previously reported walkway concern remains unresolved. No clinical findings or representative authority are yet available.

Final Assessment

Choose one correct answer for each of 15 multiple-choice questions. Read every option and complete your own assessment. The pass mark is 80%, requiring 12 correct answers. Check your device and internet connection, work in a quiet place and follow platform instructions about permitted resources.