Reading List

A curated Reading List to support and extend learning from Duty of Candour in Pharmacy Practice.

This course draws mainly on official pharmacy-regulatory and health-system sources. The professional duty of candour is the shared thread across pharmacy practice; statutory organisational duties differ between England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. The entries below are grouped to reflect those differences.

1. Core Pharmacy Professional Sources

• GPhC - Keeping patients safe: being open and honest when things go wrong
  Pharmacy-specific guidance on the professional duty of candour, including telling the person, apologising, offering remedy or support, explaining the effects, and learning from incidents.
  https://assets.pharmacyregulation.org/files/2024-01/keeping-patients-safe-june-2022.pdf

• GPhC - Standards for pharmacy professionals
  The Great Britain professional standards for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. Standard 8, on speaking up when things go wrong, is especially relevant to candour in everyday practice.
  https://assets.pharmacyregulation.org/files/standards_for_pharmacy_professionals_may_2017_0.pdf

• GPhC - Keeping patients safe: being open and honest when things go wrong
  A concise pharmacy-focused guide. Useful on meaningful apology, explaining what happened, referral to the right clinician where needed, and the reminder that apologising is not the same as admitting legal liability.
  https://assets.pharmacyregulation.org/files/2024-01/keeping-patients-safe-june-2022.pdf

• GPhC - Standards for registered pharmacies
  Standards aimed at pharmacy owners and leaders. They cover feedback and concerns, openness and honesty, staff speaking up, and the governance needed to support candour.
  https://assets.pharmacyregulation.org/files/document/standards_for_registered_pharmacies_june_2018_0.pdf

• GPhC - In practice: Guidance on raising concerns
  A practical companion for speaking up when something is unsafe. Helpful for understanding how candour and raising concerns overlap in pharmacy work.
  https://assets.pharmacyregulation.org/files/2024-01/in-practice-guidance-on-raising-concerns-november-2020.pdf

2. England: CQC Statutory Duty Context

• CQC - Regulation 20: Duty of candour
  The official explanation of the statutory duty of candour in England. Useful for distinguishing the professional duty from the statutory duty that applies to CQC-regulated providers.
  https://www.cqc.org.uk/guidance-regulation/providers/regulations-service-providers-and-managers/health-social-care-act/regulation-20

• CQC - The regulated activities
  A signpost for pharmacy businesses that may provide services requiring CQC registration. Helps leaders identify when the England statutory regime applies alongside pharmacy regulation.
  https://www.cqc.org.uk/guidance-providers/registration/regulated-activities

3. Scotland: Organisational Duty of Candour

• Scottish Government - Organisational Duty of Candour: non-statutory guidance (revised March 2025)
  The current guidance for organisations providing health, care, or social work services in Scotland. Useful on activation thresholds, apology, meetings, review, records, reporting, training, and multi-organisation involvement.
  https://www.gov.scot/publications/organisational-duty-candour-non-statutory-guidance-revised-march-2025/

• Scottish Government - Duty of Candour: healthcare standards
  A concise overview linking to the Scottish duty of candour framework, leaflets, and training resources. Good for orientation before the fuller guidance.
  https://www.gov.scot/policies/healthcare-standards/duty-of-candour/

4. Wales: NHS Duty of Candour

• GOV.WALES - The NHS Duty of Candour
  A plain-language overview of the Welsh legal duty in force from April 2023 for NHS organisations. Describes expectations to speak to people, apologise, support them through investigation, and learn from incidents.
  https://www.gov.wales/nhs-duty-candour

• GOV.WALES - The Health and Social Care (Quality and Engagement) (Wales) Act: summary
  Explains the wider Welsh legal framework and clarifies that the duty of candour supports professional duties and applies to NHS service providers, including primary care.
  https://www.gov.wales/health-and-social-care-quality-and-engagement-wales-act-summary-html

• GOV.WALES - NHS Wales complaints and concerns: Putting Things Right
  A companion source on complaints and concerns handling in Wales. Helps place candour within the wider NHS Wales response when care has gone wrong.
  https://www.gov.wales/nhs-wales-complaints-and-concerns-putting-things-right

5. Northern Ireland: Openness Framework and Professional Standards

• Department of Health Northern Ireland - Being Open Framework for Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland
  The framework supporting openness, honesty, transparency, and learning across Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland. Useful for policy direction and practical culture-building approaches.
  https://www.health-ni.gov.uk/publications/being-open-framework-health-and-social-care-northern-ireland

• Pharmaceutical Society NI - The Code, Standards and Guidance
  The Northern Ireland pharmacy regulatory gateway. Useful for the current Code for pharmacists, the regulators' joint statement on professional candour, and related guidance and standards.
  https://psni.org.uk/the-code-standards-and-guidance/

Use this Reading List to deepen your knowledge of professional candour, improve incident response and organisational learning, and identify which nation-specific legal frameworks may apply in your practice.