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Claiming Medical Negligence From A Doctor

Will the restructuring of NHS funds leave Doctors open to more medical negligence claims?

It is hard enough to predict the effects that new legislation will have on the NHS - and even harder when the new policies are a hybrid of the policies from two parties’ manifestos. The coalition government has finally revealed its plans for the health service, but many are wondering just where the axe will fall when it comes to apportioning liability in medical negligence claims.

The core of any plans for the NHS will always revolve around money. The coalition government have announced their strategy, which is designed to “make sure patients can get all the best new drugs they need for free”, to “cut the cost of NHS bureaucracy by a third” and to “require hospitals to be open about mistakes and always tell patients if something has gone wrong.”

Perhaps the most significant amendment to the running of the NHS is the reappraisal of the role played by GPs. Under the current system, the NHS budget is distributed between the ten Strategic Health Authorities (SHAs). In turn, the SHAs distribute it amongst the Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), who are accountable to the SHAs. The PCTs then commission the services of GPs, hospitals, opticians and other primary services.

Under the new proposals, the NHS budget will be handed directly over to the 40,000 GPs in the UK. They will use this money to commission services on behalf of individual patients. The SHAs will be abolished and the PCTs, while still existing in name, will become little more than administrative bodies. While this may fulfil the promise to “cut the cost of NHS bureaucracy by a third”, does it then place too much responsibility on GPs?

Nicholas Jervis, Managing Director of personal injury specialists 1stClaims, believes that this might be the result. He says: “In appointing GPs to oversee the spending of the NHS budget, they are effectively being put at the top of the chain. Should their commissions be misguided or incorrect, then they will become the place where the buck stops in litigation terms. In addition, one of the benefits of having health authorities and care trusts is that they can bear the legal brunt at any legal claims launched at their staff. How many GPs are going to be able to spare the same time to deal with every complaint that is levied at them?” He is also concerned about how much time dealing with the red tape will eat into patient/doctor consultation time. “While this may be a temporary measure to reduce administrative costs, the likelihood is that GPs are going to have to dedicate a lot more time dealing with litigation than they are with their patients.”

The additional effect is that patients launching personal injury or medical negligence claims against GPs may find that their cases take a greater length of time to process. The coalition government’s suggestion that requires “hospitals to be open about mistakes and always tell patients if something has gone wrong” may turn out to be an administrative and a legal nightmare. While the system may not be perfect at present, it at least leaves the way clear for patients to seek redress from those professionals who have broken their duty of care.

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