Issue 13
December 2003

S.J. Edney solicitors were established in 1996 and are a niche Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury Practice. Seamus Edney and Denise Broomfield are both members of the Association for Victims of Medical Accidents Referral Panel and the Law Society's Clinical Negligence Panel. The firm holds a Legal Aid Franchise in Clinical Negligence.

As a firm we are committed to acting for victims of accidents and between us we have twenty five years experience of Clinical Negligence work.

S J Edney send their best wishes for a Happy Christmas and a prosperous New Year to all our readers.

Over 1 million pounds in damages recovered for our clients during 2003

2003 was a very good year for S J Edney's clients with a record number of high value clinical negligence and personal injury cases being settled including the following:-
A Repetitive Strain Injury sustained by a client whilst she operated a keyboard when serving in the RAF. As a consequence, she was medically discharged.	£450,000.00
Failure on the part of a hospital to correctly interpret a cervical smear which led to our client developing cervical cancer with a much worse prognosis.	£115,000.00
A failure on the part of a hospital to correctly interpret a cervical smear which also led to a client (a young mother with two children) developing cervical cancer which tragically killed her.	£250,000.00
An injury sustained by our client in a road traffic accident whilst traveling as a passenger which unfortunately developed into chronic pain syndrome.	£250,000.00

May our good results continue for our clients during 2004.

 

Cosmetic Surgery Department

Just to remind our readers that Denise Broomfield at S J Edney has recently set up a designated Cosmetic Surgery department led by herself.
She is a solicitor with 10 years experience in clinical negligence and is a member of the Law Society's Clinical Negligence Panel and the AVMA Referral Panel.

She has had a particular interest in claims dealing with issues relating to women and children's health for a number of years and she has noticed an increasing trend towards claims resulting from poorly performed cosmetic surgery.

Her view is that the simple reason for this is that there is no regulation as to which type of Surgeon can undertake cosmetic surgery work and there is in fact no sub-speciality of Cosmetic Surgeon in the UK and as a consequence many patients suffer horrific injuries as a result of poorly performed surgery which leaves them with long term physical and psychological problems.

Any patients referred to Denise will be offered free telephone advice and/or appointment at our office to help determine whether they have a claim which should be pursued against a Surgeon.

"Compensation culture fears unfounded"

Critics of the so called "compensation culture" should finally be silenced following the release of a new Data Monitor report entitled "UK Personal Injury Litigation 2003".

The latest report from the market analysts show the number of general accident claims including clinical negligence claims has increased by less than 1% in 2002 - 2003. The figure remains more or less static on the previous year.

 

"Clinical Negligence Compensation - update on the story so far"

One of the most talked about issues during 2003 has been the Chief Medical Officer's review into clinical negligence compensation. As yet there have only been whispers as to when the CMO will come back with his final plans but it is likely to be during 2004. His proposals while imaginative and radical were also by the same token vague and lacking in detail.

 

NEWS IN BRIEF

Ambulances reject non emergencies. The London Ambulance Service has begun refusing to answer 999 calls who it believes do not require emergency help. They became the first service in England to screen calls to decide which required urgent assistance in an attempt to cut down on widespread misuse of the system. Trained telephone advisers will offer rejected callers advice on more appropriate ways of getting treatment. Ambulance Chiefs said they received about 100 inappropriate calls a day ranging from people with sore throats and stubbed toes to a woman who got her finger stuck in a bottle and a father concerned that his daughter was ill after getting caught in the rain. The scheme will be tried out for 6 months during which time patient's views will be canvassed. The Scottish Ambulance Service implemented a similar "no send" policy 2 years ago.

Hospitals losing fight against antibiotic-resistant super bugs. The Times recently reported that England is losing the battle against super bugs, hospital based infections that are resistant to some antibiotics. Despite initiatives over the past 5 years, the rate of infection with MRSA has continued to increase. Figures issued recently to coincide with an aggressive new attack on the problem show that England has the highest level of MRSA infection in Europe and that it is rising. Sir Liam Donaldson, the CMO said that hospital acquired infections affected 9% of patients in England, among the highest rate in Europe. The proportion of staphylococcal infections that were antibiotic resistant was at 44% equal highest in Europe with Greece. Denmark and the Netherlands recorded only 1%.

The latest figures released by the Department of Health showed that the total number of MRSA cases in England increased from 7,281 in 2001/2002 to 7,384 in 2002/2003 but these recorded figures are just the tip of the iceberg. The best estimate suggest that infections picked up in hospitals affect about 100,000 every year in England and kill 5,000 of them. According to the National Audit Office, hospital acquired infections cost 1 billion pounds a year. Sir Liam's plans include creating Directors of Infection Control to impose tough new rules. Such posts already exist but the intention is to make them more influential. The NHS Watchdog, The Commission for Health Audit & Inspection will also take infection control into consideration when compiling its star ratings of Trusts

 

 

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This newsletter was produced by S J Edney, solicitors at Alexander House, 19 Fleming Way, Swindon, Wiltshire. SN1 2NG - e-mail sjedney@supanet.com
Telephone 01793 600721