Statutory duty of candour
Muckamore Abbey Inquiry · Muckamore Abbey Hospital Inquiry Report · Issued 18 June 2026 · Addressed to: Department of Health NI
Source — verbatim from the inquiry
●Inquiry recommendation
A statutory duty of candour should now be enacted in Northern Ireland so that: (i) Every healthcare organisation and everyone working for them must be open and honest in all their dealings with service users and the public. (ii) Where harm has been or may have been caused to a service user by an act or omission of the organisation or its staff, the service user (or duly authorised representative) should be informed of the incident and given a full and honest explanation of the circumstances. (iii) Full and honest answers must be given to any question reasonably asked about treatment by a service user (or duly authorised representative). (iv) Any statement made to a regulator or other individual acting pursuant to statutory duty must be truthful and not misleading by omission. (v) Any public statement made by a healthcare organisation about its performance must be truthful and not misleading by omission. (vi) Healthcare organisations that believe or suspect that treatment or care provided by them has caused harm to a service user must inform that service user (or duly authorised representative) as soon as is practicable and provide a full and honest explanation of the circumstances. (vii) Registered clinicians and other registered healthcare professionals who believe or suspect that treatment or care provided to a service user by, or on behalf of, any healthcare organisation by which they are employed has caused harm to the service user must report their belief or suspicion to their employer as soon as is reasonably practicable.
Muckamore Abbey Inquiry, Muckamore Abbey Hospital Inquiry Report · 18 Jun 2026 Source PDF →
Response — verbatim from government
●No formal government response recorded
The Index has not yet recorded a verbatim government response to this recommendation.
Evidence trail — what's actually happened since
- 18 Jun 2026 Report published 18 June 2026. No formal government response published. R2 requires DoH to indicate within six months which recommendations it accepts.
Each entry above links to a primary source — gov.uk written statement, consultation response document, or inspection report. The Index does not characterise government intent; it tracks what has been published.
How this page is built
Source and Response are verbatim from primary documents. The Evidence trail records published activity since — written statements, consultation outcomes, inspection findings, parliamentary references. The Index does not paraphrase or characterise intent; it tracks what has been published. Where the evidence is the absence of action (a missed deadline, a slipped timetable), that absence is documented from primary sources rather than inferred.
This recommendation's data is verified periodically against primary sources. The Index is monitored for staleness weekly.