Duty of Candour
Preacher: Revd Dr Donald MacEwan
Reading: Philippians 4:4-13
My mother’s school in Glasgow was called Laurel Bank. Its motto was drawn from today’s Bible lesson in the Authorized Version – Whatsoever Things Are Honest, Just, Pure, Lovely, and of Good Report – Think On These Things.
It’s not a bad motto for a graduation day – today, tomorrow, or earlier this year. Although, if I’m honest, it all feels very strange. There are ghosts in St Andrews today – of graduands clutching their gown and hood, of supporters in their finery; of the Gaudeamus as the academics process; of bagpipe music leading us under the tower; of mini-fudge doughnuts at the reception; of ball-goers looking for all the world like revellers at a party in The Great Gatsby. Ghosts around us, because, of course, it cannot happen in the flesh.
And yet the essence of graduation remains true. After a period of study, thinking on things in arts and divinity, medicine and science, delivering your own work with integrity, your teachers have reckoned you worthy of a degree. Your report is good. A degree is conferred. The ceremony may be virtual, but your achievement is real.
I sometimes say to couples getting married right here in St Salvator’s Chapel, that a wedding lasts a day, while a marriage is for life. Well, graduation is a day; but a degree is for life. What is your life-long degree for? Could I suggest that this year, perhaps more than any other year, a degree is for truth. Whatsoever things are honest can also be translated as we heard earlier – Whatever is true.
Throughout your degree, whether undergraduate, masters or doctorate, you have learned to sift error from accuracy, prejudice from probability, falsehood from truth. You have been encouraged to read, listen and watch sceptically, and to write, speak and present honestly. Your degree has led you to recognise what is true, honourable, just, pure, pleasing and commendable – even if you recognise how hard they are to recognise.
In this degree which is for life, perhaps graduation then is like a marriage vow.
I, graduate of the University of St Andrews,
give myself to you,
beautiful, complicated, mixed-up, fragile world.
I promise you my honesty, integrity and faithfulness,
for as long as we both shall live.
Honesty matters in every degree from Arabic to Zoology.
But I’d like to focus briefly on our graduates in Medicine. Of all the faculties, perhaps Medicine has been most prominent this year, in a time of global pandemic. Of course, our medical students have learned knowledge and skills which they will need to treat Covid-19 among all the other conditions affecting human beings. But, fundamentally, they have also begun to explore a central idea in our health service – the Duty of Candour. Let me explain.
Over a decade ago, it was discovered in a particular British hospital that there were significant problems affecting patient care, and a lack of openness from the authorities. It led to a public enquiry, and a number of recommendations, including the adoption of the Duty of Candour.
This is a statutory duty to be open and honest with patients or their families when something goes wrong that appears to have caused significant harm, or indeed could lead to such harm in the future. It includes saying sorry, and offering support and remedy, if possible. It applies not only to patients but with colleagues.
This seems to me to be a concept worth a wider distribution than nhs.uk. How about a duty of candour when something goes wrong in government or international relations, in business or sport, in charities or education?
But perhaps it needn’t be a statutory duty, but simply a way of life. If every St Andrews graduate acted with honesty, spoke with candour and lived in integrity, even in a world which seems unfaithful to these things, I’d like to be around these graduates for the rest of my life. They – you – will make a difference to climate change, to the character of our companies, to our commitment to the vulnerable.
This year has appeared to offer little to be grateful for; indeed for some it has been a year of immense sadness. But the Apostle Paul has encouraged us to rejoice in the Lord always, for God is good, true and faithful to the world. And this is a day and a season for thanksgiving. So let us give thanks for God’s truth and faithfulness to all the world. Let us continue to think, beyond our degree, of whatever is true. And let us find that candour is no longer a duty for us – but a delight!
END