Issue 11
June 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.

Chief Medical Officers Report - "Making Amends" -
Proposals for reforming the approach to clinical negligence in the NHS

An overhaul of the way that compensation is paid for clinical negligence in the NHS was proposed by the Chief Medical Officer at a Press Briefing on the 30 June 2003 in an attempt to speed up claims and to cut costs.

Professor Sir Liam Donaldson published a serious of recommendations to reform the present system which threatens to become an ever increasing burden to the National Health Service.

He wants to reduce the legal costs, making it easier for patients to receive an apology without going to Court and ensure that all mistakes are investigated so that lessons can be learnt across the NHS.

Among his concerns are that the compensation system as it stands is to confrontational, too slow and fails to satisfy patients while damaging the Health Service. Negligence claims cost the NHS £477m last year compared to £6.3m in 1975.

One of the main recommendations is for the creation of an NHS Redress Scheme that would appoint a panel to investigate each allegation of negligence. The investigators would compile a report, including an assessment of whether an apology and compensation were required and the patient would be informed of the results.

Patients would be given the option of going through the Redress Scheme and could be awarded up to £30,000.00 in compensation. Their right of resorting to legal action would be removed once compensation was accepted.

For children suffering brain damage during birth, the scheme would offer families no fault compensation. They would receive maximum payments of £100,000.00 a year for life together with additional lump sums for special purchases.

Doctors would also be under a "Duty of Candour" to make it compulsory for them to report every mistake and "near miss". In return they would be given exemption from disciplinary hearings for negligence except where a criminal offence had been committed or it would be unsafe to let them continue to practice.

The paper also suggested that documents gathered to investigate adverse events should not be subject to disclosure in Court and also the Legal Services Commission should look at controlling Claimant's costs in publicly funded cases.

The main proposals are as follows:-

• Doctors obliged to report mistakes.
• Teams of investigators to assess all claims and patients right to take legal action removed once compensated.
• £30,000.00 maximum compensation in most cases.
• Where babies are severely brain damaged at birth, families to be offered no fault compensation and regular payments of £100,000.00 a year for life to replace large lump sums.
• More emphasis on mediation before legal proceedings start.
• Special training for Judges in clinical negligence cases.
• Awards based on costs of NHS rather than private care.

On the whole, clinical negligence lawyers have given a cautious welcome to the consultation paper but it is vital that patients are permitted to get legal advice on any offer made under the Redress Scheme to ensure they receive adequate compensation. It is also imperative that the Panel of investigators are not only independent of the Hospital Trust which is the subject matter of the complaint but they remember that the interests of patients are paramount.

NEWS IN BRIEF

NHS Complaints A record number of complaints about the NHS were made last year. Anne Abraham, the Health Service Ombudsman, received 3,994 complaints in the twelve months up to April 2003. Many complainants were dissatisfied with the funding of long term care.

MRSA Up Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus Aureus - the so-called "superbug" - was reported as on the increase in the NHS hospitals with 11,000 patients infected in the period between April 2001 and September 2002

Soldiers barred from suing It was reported that British soldiers and their dependants who have suffered serious injuries through negligence by German hospitals caring for them under contracts with the Ministry of Defence (MoD) had been barred, by a High Court test case, from suing the ministry. In the case the parents of a five-year-old boy left with severe brain damage after his birth in a German hospital were told that the MoD could not be held liable. The ruling would appear to raise issues on the rights of Britons sent to other EU countries by the NHS trusts for operations to sue the NHS if their treatment goes wrong.

 

 

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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