‘to occasionally let out a burst of calculated candour’

In “Corridors of Power” C.P. Snow reveals how effective it is for civil servants to:

Since the 1st of April 2018, Organisational Duty of Candour has become a statutory requirement for “all organisations in Scotland who provide health or social care to the public”. Legislation now enshrines this, but only for “providers”. Neither the Scottish Government (Department of Health) nor Healthcare Improvement Scotland are legally considered as “providers” and so are exempt from duty of candour. The irony – if it is just that – is that both of these organisations were instrumental in introducing “duty of candour”.

As an NHS employee I have been sent guidance on statutory ‘Organisational Duty of Candour’ which outlined how this report , by the National Patient Safety Foundation, has been guiding in shaping Scottish legislation:

As a longstanding campaigner for transparency, I wish to put on record my full support for this report. The following recommendations come directly from it, as highlighted by the National Patient Safety Foundation:

The Scottish Government and Healthcare Improvement Scotland are both “stakeholders” and essential parts of the “continuum” of healthcare in Scotland.  Yet they have both chosen not to be part of “Organisational Duty of Candour” which has been enacted by the Scottish Parliament on their very recommendation.

Perhaps the Scottish public need not worry. At least we have:

Yet this “code” makes no mention of candour. Not one.

In the novel ‘Serious Sweet’ by A.L Kennedy, the troubled senior civil servant, Jonathan Sigurdsson, muses on his occupation and his use of language: