Lawford Kidd's Blog

The family of Lilian Hugill have been awarded compensation after the 84-year-old died while under the care of the staff at York Hospital, reports the Daily Telegraph.

NHS England is missing opportunities to learn from patient deaths and too many families are not being included or listened to when an investigation happens, according to a recent review by the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

The UK Government has recently published details of new measures to improve the safety of maternity care in the NHS in England, which include maternity safety funding and publishing maternity ratings.

NHS trusts will be given resources to improve their approach to maternity safety, including an £8 million fund for maternity safety training, with at least £40,000 available to each NHS trust in England. In addition, the new measures will make sure lessons are learned from mistakes and shared openly and transparently across the NHS.

Rapid Resolution and Redress Scheme

The Government has also announced its intention to consult on a new rapid resolution and redress (RRR) scheme, which it says could investigate and learn lessons from more than 500 incidents a year. In cases where harm was avoidable, families would be offered access to financial support without having to go through a formal legal process.

A number of cases of compensation being awarded to patients who were the victims of medical negligence have been reported in the media recently.

One such case involved a teenage girl who has permanent nerve damage in her shoulder as a result of medical errors when she was born.

Courtney Webb was born at Liverpool Women’s Hospital in October 1999 but during labour her shoulders became stuck, reports the Liverpool Echo. At that point, a caesarean section would normally have been carried out, but medical staff instead decided to proceed with a natural birth.

Medical negligence is a very serious but all too common issue in the UK. Over the last four years, almost 1200 serious events have taken place in hospitals in England.