Newmarket and Ely Living Dec 2021 - Jan 2022

ADVERTISING FEATURE
Cooperation to
resolve medical negligence
claims continues
By Marcus Chapman, Solicitor, Civil
Litigation Department at Fraser
Dawbarns LLP Solicitors...
Lawyers working in the medical
negligence (or clinical negligence as
it is also known) field have seen some
interesting developments during the past
18 months. Firstly there was a predictable
reduction in enquiries as everyone
complied with lockdown and showed
their support for the inundated NHS.
For some people this meant not looking
to claim compensation for injuries they
had suffered as the result of negligence
because they felt uncomfortable doing
so. Then as things started to ease,
those with serious potential claims
realised that they needed to take action
to put themselves and their families as
far as possible back into the position,
financial or otherwise, that they were in
before their medical injury occurred and
enquiries started to increase a little once
again.
Meanwhile, at the height of the pandemic
some of the key parties involved in
medical injury claims worked closely
together to introduce the Covid-19
Clinical Negligence Protocol (C19P) to
try to speed up amicable resolution, and
reduce confrontation, for people with
genuine claims. Those involved were
NHS Resolution, the Society of Clinical
Injury Lawyers (SCIL) and Action Against
Medical Accidents (AvMA).
Amongst other measures the C19P
encourages both those making a claim
and those defending one to be flexible
about requests for extensions of time in
order to provide the information needed
by the others involved in the claim.
This acknowledges that with the recent
pressures on the NHS it was unfair to
expect responses in the usual
timescales.
The general positive trends coming out of
this new regime are that more claims are
being resolved successfully without going
to Court, costs to the NHS in resolving
the claims are dropping, and claims are
in the main being resolved more quickly.
There has been an increased use of
alternative forms of dispute resolution,
such as mediation, and with many of
these taking place on digital platforms
such as Cloud Video Platform, Microsoft
Teams or Zoom the process is speeded
up and costs are reduced.
It appears that C19P is here to stay for
the time being at least and even with
the pandemic being brought under
control there are certainly benefits to all
concerned to continue with the spirit
of the Protocol and to approach claims
with a view to resolution rather than
confrontation.
If you, or a family member, has suffered
an injury as a result of clinical negligence
or negligence within the care community,
please contact Marcus Chapman on
marcuschapman@fraserdawbarns.com
or on 01354 602880 for an initial chat
about your potential claim and how we
can help.
This article aims to supply general
information, but it is not intended to
constitute advice. Every effort is made
to ensure that the law referred to is
correct at the date of publication and
to avoid any statement which may
mislead. However, no duty of care is
assumed to any person and no liability is
accepted for any omission or inaccuracy.
Always seek advice specific to your own
circumstances.
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