IHRD-2 Response Accepted in Part

Criminal Liability for Candour Breach

Recommendation

Criminal liability should attach to breach of this duty and criminal liability should attach to obstruction of another in the performance of this duty.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
Government response: Accepted in Part. Implementation status based on Department of Health NI Implementation Programme updates. No independent verification has been carried out.
Sources
Government response (2018-03-01): Accepted in Principle Source: https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/topics/ihrd-implementation-programme Text: Under review as part of wider duty of candour and accountability framework development. Progress update (2024-01-31): In Progress Implementation status based on Department of Health NI Implementation Programme updates. Note: This tracks key recommendations
full inquiry had 96 recommendations requiring 120 actions. Source: https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/topics/ihrd-implementation-programme
How was this evidence gathered?
Evidence searched by baseline-data-v1 on 26 May 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
External sources searched: www.health-ni.gov.uk
Jurisdiction
Northern Ireland
Response
Accepted in Part
Accepted in Part Northern Ireland Executive
01 Mar 2018

Under review as part of wider duty of candour and accountability framework development.

Read Full Response
Published Evidence

Published assessments of progress from inspectorates, select committees, official progress reports, and other sources. Source type badge indicates whether each assessment is independent or government self-reported.

Not Implemented
06 Feb 2026
NI Assembly / Department of Health NI legislation

Criminal liability for breach of duty of candour has not been introduced. No legislation exists to attach criminal sanctions to candour failures in NI.

View detailed findings

Recommendation 2 called for criminal liability to attach to breach of the duty of candour and to obstruction of others performing this duty. Since no statutory duty of candour has been enacted in NI (see IHRD-1), criminal liability provisions cannot exist. Health Minister Mike Nesbitt has expressed concerns about individual criminal sanctions that would only apply in NI. After 8 years, this recommendation is effectively not accepted.

IHRD Implementation Programme View Source
Source
Inquiry Hyponatraemia Inquiry
Report Report of the Inquiry into Hyponatraemia-related Deaths 31 Jan 2018
View Source
Responsible Bodies
Northern Ireland Executive Primary
Themes & Tags
Duty of Candour implementation Weak Government Accountability & Scrutiny Criminal Law Duty of Candour Accountability Healthcare
Recommendation age 8.3 yrs
Last formal update 851 days ago