Issue 16
September 2004

S.J. Edney solicitors were established in 1996 and are a niche Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury Practice. Seamus Edney is a member of the Law Society's Personal Injury Panel, Action Against Medical Accidents (AVMA's) Solicitors Panel and he is also a member of the Law Society's Clinical Negligence Panel. The firm holds a Legal Services Commission Franchise in Clinical Negligence.

As a firm we are committed to acting for victims of accidents and Seamus Edney has 15 years experience of Clinical Negligence and Personal Injury work.

NO PAIN, NO GAIN FOR GPs

NO WIN, NO FEE has taken on a new meaning with the news that solicitors are offering family doctors thousands of pounds to refer personal injury cases to them.

It is believed that so far about 10 GPs have taken up offers of cash for referrals from two personal injury firms in Merseyside and Kent.

One firm of solicitors is reported to be offering doctors £175 per patient and £50 for copies of medical records - giving GPs who refer just one patient a week almost £12,000.00 a year.

But the move has provoked outrage from medical organisations. A spokeswoman from the General Medical Council told Pulse (Sept 6) that it was worried about potential conflicts of interest and that is may consider disciplinary action against doctors who take up the offer.

Dr Hamish Meldrum, Chairman of the British Medical Association's GP committee, told the Times newspaper: "It is not an appropriate way for professionals to work. Patients normally expect doctors to give unbiased advice. It is difficult to argue that, if they know you are getting paid £175 for doing so".

Law Society rules changed in April to allow solicitors to make payments to third parties subject to strict controls. Dr Meldrum has said that the BMA will meet the Law Society to discuss the practice if it becomes widespread.

By coincidence, the Law Society is now balloting its members again on whether this new arrangement with regard to referral fees should be allowed to continue. Some solicitors believe that it is wrong to pay for new clients and these payments amount to nothing less than a "bribe" and is lowering the status of the profession in the eyes of the general public. The ballot result is awaited with some interest.

Hospital complaints procedure - update

Medical Negligence Claims - falling

The Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) is urging caution on the Department of Health over plans to update the medical treatment complaints procedure. "It is imperative that any new scheme aimed at making life easier for patients is introduced only after careful consideration has been given to any shortcomings and potential problems", says APIL's outgoing President, David Marshall. The association is also urging caution about another aspect of the proposed changes. Marshall commented: "The Department of Health is proposing that patients can complain to any member of staff and that those complaints can be resolved on the spot". APIL wants to ensure that staff are sufficiently trained to deal with such incidents. "Without thorough training to ensure staff know when a complaint is being made, and how to deal with it, such a system won't work" said Marshall. "Financial resources must be available. Without proper funding, especially to train staff, the scheme won't even be able to get off the ground".

The good news is that "alarmist talk of spiralling litigation costs is misguided", according to Peter Walsh, Chief Executive of Action Against Medical Accidents (AvMA). He was reacting to figures from the National Audit Office showing that the cost of meeting medical negligence claims in 2002-2003 was the same as in the previous year (£446 million), in spite of the NHS Litigation Authority catching up on old claims. The corresponding figures for Wales showed a drop, from £49 million to £43 million. The bad news? We should be asking ourselves "why, given the acknowledged high rate of medical errors, so few people get access to justice," commented Walsh. "Attention should be fully focused on preventing these incidents happening in the first place, which would avoid the human cost to patients as well as the financial cost to the NHS."

 

COMPENSATION LIMITS

Compensation awarded to severely injured people may not last long enough to pay for their future nursing care, a lawyers' group has warned.

Periodical payments - the method by which injury victims will soon receive their compensation instead of a lump sum - could leave people injured through NHS blunders, for example, short-changed and unable to meet the financial pressures of paying for 24-hour care, believes the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL).

Outgoing President David Marshall said the problem lay in the interest rate used to calculate by how much periodical payments should increase each year. "The idea behind periodical payments is that injured people receive a regular amount of money for life, without the worry of it running out if they live longer than expected" he said.

"We are very concerned, however, that the normal inflation index for regular increases in these periodical payments is to be the retail price index (RPI). The RPI is simply too low, as both the cost of care and the increase in earnings which the victim would have enjoyed are going up at a much higher rate". Marshall added that there was a real danger that, if care costs continued to rise more steeply than RPI victims would be left penny-pinching and having to cut back on the care regime they depended on, simply to save money.

"I do not relish the prospect of having to tell a severely injured client that his compensation might run out," he said.

"Surely these people having suffered enough at the hands of someone else's negligence. It is unfair that they should have to worry about compromising the care they so desperately need".

APIL has urged the government to look at possible solutions to the problem as a matter of urgency.

 

AVMA WELCOMES MOVES TO PLUG THE REGULATION GAP

The Department of Health has launched consultation on proposals to create a new body to regulate alternative therapists practising herbalism and acupuncture, and also, in a separate project, to extend professional regulation to health support staff.

Action against Medical Accidents has welcome both initiatives. It says increasing numbers of people are using alternative therapies which have gone largely unregulated in the past. It also believes health support staff play an increasingly vital role alongside doctors and nurses in providing conventional treatment.

 

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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