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Expert Witnesses Demand Fairer Treatment from Solicitors
The Annual Expert Witness Survey, produced by Bond Solon in association with Law Society Gazette, was published in November.
The majority of expert witnesses surveyed felt there should be stronger sanctions, involving the Solicitors Regulation Authority, against solicitors who intentionally lead experts to breach their duty to the court.
Experts were also frustrated by some agencies and law firms’ refusal to follow agreed terms and pay fees in a timely manner.
Read more: https://www.lawgazette.co.uk/news/survey-expert-witnesses-berate-solicitors-for-bias-pressure-and-late-payment/5121462.article
DHSC Proposals to Introduce Professional Regulation for NHS Managers
Since the Darzi review in 2024, NHS England is continuing to:
“Develop a leadership and management framework, which will introduce a code of practice, a set of core standards and a development curriculum for managers. This will support managers and leaders to undertake further training to improve their effectiveness and to progress in their careers.”
A Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) consultation is currently underway to:
“Seek views from all stakeholders, including health and care organisations, regulators, professional bodies, health and care managers and senior leaders, the public, patients and other health and care staff on the most effective way to strengthen oversight and accountability of NHS managers.
• We are seeking views from stakeholders on
• the type of regulatory system that would be most appropriate for managers
• which managers should be in scope for any future regulatory system
• what kind of body should exercise such a regulatory function
• what types of standards managers should be required to demonstrate as part of a future system of regulation”
You can respond using their online survey through the link below. The consultation runs for 12 weeks and closes at 11:59pm on 18 February 2025.
Read more: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/leading-the-nhs-proposals-to-regulate-nhs-managers/leading-the-nhs-proposals-to-regulate-nhs-managers
NHS Maternity Survey 2024
Results of the maternity survey, recording the experiences of pregnant women and new mothers who used NHS maternity services in 2024, were published at the end of November.
The survey showed areas of improvement including access to antenatal mental health support and improvements in communication with midwives about antenatal care decisions. However, satisfaction with postnatal care in hospital and after leaving hospital has declined. There has been a 5-year downward trend in the number of people reportedly able to get timely help from staff during labour and birth.
Read more: https://www.cqc.org.uk/publications/surveys/maternity-survey
New Patient Safety Principles from the Patient Safety Commissioner
The new Patient Safety Principles have been developed as one of the Commissioner’s statutory duties following a public consultation. They provide a framework for decision making, planning and collaborative working with patients as partners in a just and learning culture and are for everyone working in the healthcare system. A summary is below:
1. Create a culture of safety
2. Put patients at the heart of everything
3. Treat people equitably
4. Identify and act on inequalities
5. Identify and mitigate risks
6. Be transparent and accountable
7. Use information and data to drive improved care and outcomes
Click below to view the full details of the Patient Safety Principles and for a toolkit on how to use the Principles.
Read more: https://www.patientsafetycommissioner.org.uk/principles-of-better-patient-safety/
Martha’s Rule Pilot a Success
Martha’s Rule is a major patient safety initiative providing patients and families with a way to seek an urgent review if their or their loved one’s condition deteriorates, and they are concerned this is not being responded to.
Martha Mills died in 2021, aged 13, after developing sepsis in hospital, where she had been admitted with a pancreatic injury after falling off her bike. Martha’s family’s concerns about her deteriorating condition were not responded to, and a coroner ruled that she would probably have survived had she been moved to intensive care earlier.
During the pilot year, running until March 2025, 143 sites will test and implement the 3 components of Martha’s Rule:
1. Patients will be asked, at least daily, about how they are feeling, and if they are getting better or worse, and this information will be acted on in a structured way.
2. All staff will be able, at any time, to ask for a review from a different team if they are concerned that a patient is deteriorating, and they are not being responded to.
3. This escalation route will also always be available to patients themselves, their families and carers and advertised across the hospital
NHS data shows that some patients have already received potentially life-saving treatment as a result of the pilot scheme.
Read more: https://www.england.nhs.uk/patient-safety/marthas-rule/
Whiplash Injury Regulations: Publication of the Lord Chancellor’s Review
On 21st November 2024, The Rt Hon Shabana Mahmood, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, completed her report of the first statutory review of the Whiplash Injury Regulations 2021.
In summary she decided to:
• maintain the existing split structure of the tariff (whiplash only and whiplash plus minor psychological injury) and to provide additional guidance on defining minor psychological injury;
• uprate the tariff by around 15% to account for actual Consumer Price Index inflation to May 2024 and for forecasted inflation to May 2027 - the likely date of the next review;
• keep the allowable judicial uplift for exceptional injuries or circumstances at its current level of up to 20% of the tariff award; and
• make no changes to the definitions on what constitutes appropriate medical evidence and who may provide it for the purposes of the ban on seeking/making an offer to settle a whiplash claim without evidence.
She will now commence a consultation on these decisions with the Lady Chief Justice.
Read more: https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-statements/detail/2024-11-21/hcws241
In addition, she made the following Damages (Personal Injury) (England and Wales) Order 2024 changes to the discount rate from the 11th January 2025, so that the prescribed rate of return will be 0.5%.
The Explanatory Note:
“This Order prescribes 0.5% as the rate of return which, under section A1(1) of the Damages Act 1996 (c. 48), courts are required to take into account when calculating damages for future pecuniary loss in an action for personal injury. As this is the second review of the rate of return since the commencement of Schedule A1 to the Damages Act 1996, the procedure set out in paragraph 3 of Schedule A1 to that Act applies.”
Read more: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2024/1261/made
GMC Regulation of PAs and AAs Begins
In December, the GMC published the results of its consultation ending in May 2024 on how it will regulate physician associates (PAs) and anaesthesia associates (AAs).
Feedback from the consultation and patients was considered by the GMC, and from 13 December 2024 it began regulating PAs and AAs alongside doctors. Regulation will begin with a small selection of Associates, which will be extended to those on existing voluntary registers by the end of January 2025. From December 2026 it will be an offence to practise as a PA or AA in the UK without GMC registration.
The changes to the GMC’s initial proposals, based on feedback in consultation responses, include:
An initial proposal for a single GMC case examiner to make decisions on fitness to practise cases involving PAs or AAs has been changed. Instead, there will now be two case examiners.
A specific requirement has been included for course providers to ensure student PAs and AAs inform patients when they are involved in their care. This builds on standards required of practising PAs and AAs to introduce themselves and explain their role.
Behaviours indicative of serious misconduct have been expanded to include cases where a PA or AA has deliberately misled patients or others about their registered status. This mirrors the approach taken with doctors.
A new provision that confirms the GMC cannot ask PAs and AAs to provide evidence of reflective practice when applying to join, leave or re-join the GMC register.
GMC Chief Executive Charlie Massey said:
‘Regulation is a vital step towards strengthening patient safety and public trust. It will provide assurance to patients, employers and colleagues that physician associates and anaesthesia associates have the right level of education and training, meet the standards we expect, and can be held to account if serious concerns are raised.’
Read more: https://www.gmc-uk.org/about/get-involved/consultations/summary-of-our-consultation-on-pa-aa-rules-standards-and-guidance
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