The aim should be a healthy mother and a healthy baby! Almost everyday of my professional life, I see the very challenging consequences of mistakes made during childbirth and the consequences for the child, the mother, their family and for the health professionals involved. And so two stories that have broken in the news in […]
In 2015, Jeremy Hunt said that there were probably about 1,000 “avoidable” deaths in the NHS every month. So there are about 12,000 deaths every year and this figure does not begin to include serious injuries to patients that fall short of being fatal! There is a clear public interest in maintaining high standards of […]
Accountability for mistakes and the government proposals for fixed costs for civil claims. I read about the collapse of the criminal case against a NHS Trust involving the tragic death of teacher Frances Cappuccini last week with great sadness for her partner and family. However there is another aspect to consider, namely whether criminal prosecution […]
The National Health Service (NHS) was created out of the ideal that a good standard of healthcare should be freely available to all, regardless of wealth. When the then Minister of Health, Aneurin Bevan launched the NHS it was based on three core principles: That it meet the needs of everyone That it be free […]
The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (“PHSO”) is a body set up by Parliament to investigate complaints that have not been resolved by the NHS in England and UK government departments and other UK public organisations. It estimates that complaints about potentially avoidable deaths make up around 20% of the NHS complaints that it investigates. Earlier this month […]
Earlier this week, I represented the family at the Inquest into Victoria Harrison’s untimely death. Victoria (26.10.94-16.08.12), who liked to be known as Tor, died aged 17 at Kettering General Hospital after an operation to remove her appendix. During the operation an artery was severed and repaired but, tragically Victoria bled again later and opportunities […]