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This article was published on June 13th, 2014
The comments from Stuart Poyner, the leader of one of England’s biggest NHS Trusts were a breath of fresh air.
Instead of the usual barrage of abuse we sometimes read regarding lawyers destroying our NHS by bringing negligence claims, this seems to signal an acknowledgement that failures have happened and if so then everything possible should be done to try and correct the wrong and work towards not only healing the physical pain if possible but restoring the faith in the system.
His view that lessons are to be learned from incidents and that Trusts have a moral responsibility to deal with the legal process efficiently and not to drag out the process, which of course simply adds to the distress suffered is to be applauded.
We at Thorneycroft take great care to advise our clients so they are aware of what constitutes a negligence claim as opposed to issues of policy or care which should more properly be dealt with via the Trusts internal complaints systems.
On that basis when we pursue a matter, we expect to see a resolution. This new approach can only be a good thing for clients/patients, lawyers and the Health Service.
Let’s hope other Trusts follow suit.