Duty of Candour - Northern Ireland
Infected Blood Inquiry · Infected Blood Inquiry Final Report · Issued 20 May 2024 · Addressed to: Northern Ireland Executive
Government responseNorthern Ireland Executive: Accepted (May 2025)
DeliveryDepartment of Health NI says in progress (Sep 2025)
Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation
Duty of candour:
A statutory duty of candour in healthcare should be introduced in Northern Ireland.
Infected Blood Inquiry, Infected Blood Inquiry Final Report · 20 May 2024 Source PDF →
Published evidence summary
AI-generated evidence summary
The Inquiry recommended introducing a statutory duty of candour in healthcare across Northern Ireland. In September 2025, Mike Nesbitt, Minister of Health, stated in a written ministerial statement to the Northern Ireland Assembly that officials had been tasked with developing a bill for an organisational duty of candour during the current mandate (Mike Nesbitt, Sep 2025). Previously, in May 2025, the Northern Ireland Executive stated that it would advance an organisational duty first while considering an individual duty later, taking into account consultation findings and wider UK legislative work (Northern Ireland Executive response, May 2025).
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 5 Oct 2026.
Government response
●Northern Ireland Executive · Accepted · 14 May 2025
As part of the Health and Social Care Three Year plan, Minister Mike Nesbitt committed to advance proposals for an organisational duty of candour, in the first instance, as well as considering proposals for an individual duty of candour in the coming months, that takes account of a related consultation which closed in March 2025, the UK-wide work on a Hillsborough Law, and the work arising from the Infected Blood Inquiry.
The findings of this consultation, as well as the outworkings of a Hillsborough Law currently being taken forward by the UK Government and the findings of the Duty of Candour review in England will undoubtedly shape the introduction of a statutory Duty of Candour in Northern Ireland.
Extract from: Full Government Response to the Infected Blood Inquiry's May 2024 Report
Delivery
●Department of Health NI says in progress · 18 Sep 2025
I have considered the feedback from the Being Open / Duty of Candour consultation that ended in March of this year, and there was clear support for such alignment in Northern Ireland regarding Organisational Duty of Candour. I want to bring this legislation forward as soon as possible and I have tasked officials with developing a Bill - targeting this mandate.
From: Department of Health Proposals on a Duty of Candour Bill for Northern Ireland, Mike Nesbitt, Minister of Health (Northern Ireland)
How this page is built
The recommendation and the government responses are verbatim from primary documents. Delivery statements and other bodies' findings are shown in their own words, each with its source. The summary is written by this site and labelled as such. The Index does not paraphrase sources or characterise intent; it records what has been published.