Clinical Negligence Solicitors

The Health Secretary has announced a series of measures to end the cover up culture in the health service when mistakes are made.

Announced at a two-day summit, the plans include an independent Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch – and legal protection for anyone giving information following a hospital mistake.

Legal “safe spaces” will mean those co-operating with investigations will be supported and protected to speak up, to help bring new openness to the NHS’s response to mistakes.

Families will be told the full truth more quickly – and the NHS will improve its response when things go wrong and act upon the knowledge acquired.

From April 2018, expert medical examiners will also independently review and confirm the cause of all deaths, as originally recommended by the Shipman Inquiry – and subsequently by Robert Francis following the Mid Staffs scandal. If any death needs to be investigated and if there is cause for concern, appropriate action will be taken.

The current system has remained largely unchanged for more than 50 years and results in significant variations in the number of deaths that are investigated, says the government

The changes announced by the Health Secretary are intended to reassure the public that if things go wrong, the causes will be identified and investigated.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt said:

“A huge amount of progress has been made in improving our safety culture following the tragic events at Mid Staffs – but to deliver a safer NHS for patients seven days a week, we need to unshackle ourselves from a quick-fix blame culture and acknowledge that sometimes bad mistakes can be made by good people.

“It is a scandal that every week there are potentially 150 avoidable deaths in our hospitals – and it is up to us all to make the need for whistleblowing and secrecy a thing of the past, as we reform the NHS and its values and move from blaming to learning.”

As part of the new measures, NHS Improvement will publish the first annual “Learning from mistakes league” to identify the level of openness and transparency in NHS provider organisations for the first time.

This year’s league shows that 120 organisations are rated as outstanding or good, 78 have significant concerns – and 32 have a poor reporting culture.

NHS England will work with the Royal College of Physicians to develop a standardised method for reviewing the records of patients who have died in hospital – and England will become the first country in the world to publish estimates by every hospital trust of their own, non-comparable, avoidable mortality rates.

Duncan Lewis Clinical Negligence Solicitors – No win no fee Medical Negligence Claims

Duncan Lewis clinical negligence solicitors can advise those who have suffered injury as a result of medical negligence on how to make a no win no fee claim for compensation, including claims relating to:

• A&E errors
• Anaesthetic errors
• Birth injuries (mother and baby)
• Brain injury
• Cancer misdiagnosis
• Nerve injury
• Organ damage
• Prescribing errors
• Retained surgical instruments
• Surgical errors
• Wrong or unnecessary medical treatment.

Medical negligence claims have to be made within three years of injury or diagnosis of injury – children can claim compensation up to the age of 21.

Duncan Lewis can also advise bereaved families whose loved one has lost their life as a result of medical negligence on how to make a no win no fee claim for compensation.

For expert legal advice on no win no fee Medical Negligence Claims, call Duncan Lewis clinical negligence solicitors on 0333 772 0409.