IHRD-3 Response Accepted in Part AI-assessed

Guidance on Statutory Duty of Candour

Recommendation

Unequivocal guidance should be issued by the Department to all Trusts and their legal advisors detailing what is expected of Trusts in order to meet the statutory duty.

Published Evidence Summary
The following publicly available evidence relates to this recommendation:
The Department of Health NI's IHRD Implementation Programme (March 2018) is overseeing this recommendation (Official government response, https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/topics/ihrd-implementation-programme). While the government accepted the development of guidance in conjunction with statutory duty of candour legislation, independent evidence from the Department of Health NI (February 2026) states that the guidance cannot be issued because the statutory duty itself has not been enacted in Northern Ireland. A non-statutory 'Being Open Framework' exists, but this is not the statutory guidance required by the recommendation, and a search of legislation.gov.uk for 'Hyponatraemia Inquiry' returned no results. The government's progress tracker (January 2024) marked this as 'In Progress'.
How was this assessed?
Assessed by gemini-2.5-flash on 24 Mar 2026
Checked data held on this site (government responses, progress updates, independent evidence)
External sources searched: www.gov.uk, www.health-ni.gov.uk, www.legislation.gov.uk, hansard.parliament.uk
Jurisdiction
Northern Ireland
Response
Accepted in Part
Accepted in Part Northern Ireland Executive Initial Response
01 Mar 2018

Being considered alongside duty of candour legislation development.

Read Full Response
Accepted Department of Health NI Follow-up
01 Mar 2018

Guidance being developed in conjunction with statutory duty of candour legislation.

Read Full Response
Published Evidence

Published assessments of implementation progress from inspectorates, select committees, official progress reports, and other sources. Check the source type badge to see whether each assessment is independent or government self-reported.

Not Implemented
06 Feb 2026
Department of Health NI legislation

Guidance on statutory duty of candour cannot be issued as the statutory duty itself has not been enacted.

View detailed findings

Without a statutory duty of candour in NI, the guidance that recommendation 3 requires to accompany it cannot be finalised. A Being Open Framework exists but this is non-statutory guidance, not guidance on a statutory duty.

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
Department of Health NI Primary
Themes & Tags
Duty of Candour implementation Criminal Law Accountability Duty of Candour Guidance
Recommendation age 8.1 yrs
Last formal update 783 days ago