Consent & candour
By Peter Charlesworth
MSc MCOptom
The GOC recently completed its latest registrant
consultation i . This time on the subjects of consent and
candour. But what exactly are these and why does the
GOC want our opinion?
The GOC is seeking to provide additional guidance to
registrants on when to obtain consent from patients and how
to be open and honest, for example owning up to mistakes
and near misses. They have produced draft guidance which,
once agreed, will form part of the standards of practice
guidance issued earlier this year.
Obtaining consent from patients before they undergo
investigation or treatment is an increasingly important issue
in medicine and healthcare. NHS guidance ii requires consent
to be given voluntarily by a patient who has been informed
of all the benefits and risks and who has the capacity to make
an informed decision.
Candour, has hit the headlines recently in high profile
cases such as the Mortonhall Crematorium Scandal iii and the
recent Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service (MPTS) finding
against Marwan Farouk iv . In both cases a lack of openness and
honesty led to unacceptable behaviour being covered up.
In the Mortonhall case parents were told there would
be nothing left to scatter following cremation of their children
yet babies’ ashes were disposed of in a mass, unmarked grave
at the crematorium. Marwak Farouk removed a patient’s
testicle during an operation by mistake and tried to cover
it up by telling him it had shrunk.
Of course, these are extreme cases but consent and openness
and honesty are a fundamental part of provision of healthcare
services. The GOC’s consultation sought to determine how and
when consent should be obtained, for example should verbal
consent be obtained for each element of an eye examination?
And when should mistakes be communicated to patients, for
example should minor errors that don’t affect the outcome of
a patient’s treatment (say an out of date diagnostic drug being
used) be communicated, and if not should they be recorded
and logged to stop them happening again?
The consultation has now closed but the consultation
documents are still available on the GOC’s website i .
Take part in our consent and candour quiz to see how
your actions in practice would measure up to the
proposed new guidance. You may be surprised.
www.cetpoints.com
i GOC Consultations, Consent and Duty of Candour 9 September 2016.
https://www.optical.org/en/get-involved/consultations/ Accessed October 2016
ii NHS Choices, Consent to treatment. http://www.nhs.uk/conditions/consent-to-treatment/pages/introduction.aspx
Accessed October 2016
iii Mortonhall Investigation Report, Edinburgh City Council, 2016,
http://www.edinburgh.gov.uk/info/20242/mortonhall_investigation/957/mortonhall_investigation_-_report/2
Accessed October 2016
iv Record of Determinations – Medical Practitioners Tribunal 2804976, Dr Marwan Farouk.
http://www.mpts-uk.org/static/documents/content/Marwan_Farouk.pdf
Accessed October 2016
November 2016 | etCETera 5