The Guardian has recently reported on the Royal and Liverpool Broadgreen University Trust’s plans to install thirty surveillance cameras within their Intensive Care Unit, Kidney Dialysis Department and in one of their Operating Theatres. The cameras...
The first private company to run an NHS hospital has signed a deal which will see it take the first £2 million in profits, despite the hospital being £40 million in debt. In February 2012, Circle Healthcare got the go ahead to take over...
The Telegraph has reported in the last few weeks that the myth that removing the tonsils does not work has led to a 40 per cent rise in the number of children admitted to A & E in the last decade suffering from painful tonsillitis. Tonsillitis is...
A recent General Medical Council (GMC) report has revealed that GPs are making too many errors when prescribing medication to patients. Estimates have suggested that the numbers involved could be as high as 1 error in every 6 patients receiving prescription...
An inquest last month heard that Harry Connolly, aged just 19 months, was a “victim of basic errors by medics”. These errors cost Harry his life, he died in April 2011. A post-mortem examination revealed he died of dehydration and acute kidney...
Joanne Green, a mother from Urmston, has recently been raising awareness regarding the infection of Group B Streptococcus, which cost the lives of her unborn twins who tragically were stillborn at 36 weeks. The NHS Direct website says that “... Group...
Figures released recently suggest that almost 8,000 NHS patients a week are sent home from hospital in the middle of the night, amid claims the practice is being used to relieve pressure within the Health Service. The figures obtained by the Times, under...
The Daily Mail has reported that in the last 3 years 13 soldiers have brought clinical negligence claims against a hospital in Birmingham, which cares for soldiers who are brought home injured from the frontline (i.e. from Afghanistan or Iraq). It is...
To mark Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month, last month, the organisation that represents doctors accused of negligence, the Medical Defence Union (MDU), has carried out research into doctors’ failure to diagnose ovarian cancer in women. The MDU...
Amendments to the Legal Aid system are never far from the minds of any high street lawyer. We have all been caught up in the lobbying, arguing and worrying about what is going to happen and the potential destruction of access to justice. After the initial...
Following the House of Lords European Union (EU) sub-committee’s report on the mobility of healthcare professionals, it appears likely that there will be some major changes in the way that EU doctors are treated while practising in the UK. Under the...
The Care Quality Commission has recently considered whether nutrition and dignity standards were being adhered to at 100 hospitals. The CQC spent a day on two wards at each site and concerns were identified in 55 cases. Both the James Paget Hospital in Great...
Concern has recently been raised that healthcare assistants, in many hospitals and care homes within the UK, are undertaking tasks without sufficient training. Healthcare assistants clearly have an important role assisting nurses with basic tasks like...
The Royal College of Surgeons have raised concerns that the lives of thousands of NHS emergency surgery patients are being risked by poor care and delays in treatment. A recent report indicates that approximately 170,000 patients undergo non-cardiac...
We are thrilled to announce that our personal injury and clinical negligence teams have been short listed for a 2011 Proclaim Personal Injury Award, in the ‘Claimant team of the year’ category. These awards are the highlight of the personal...
A retired paramedic was left disabled and requiring 24 hour care after a surgeon removed the wrong part of his brain during a botched operation . John Tunney, from Sutton Coldfield, underwent a biopsy on a pituitary tumour but the surgeon removed healthy...
The Daily Mail has this week highlighted the shocking case of a former ward sister who was dismissed by doctors as being ‘hysterical’ when she requested that a breast lump be removed. In December 2005 Miss Catherine Calland, 65, had a...
A teenager has filled for legal action against her GP on the grounds of clinical negligence after contracting a rare bone disease which was not properly diagnosed . Gaynor Salmons is claiming close to £200,000 in compensation after...
Studies have shown that “silver surgery” is booming as the older generation prove that looking good is not just for the young. Rather than the usual image we associate with an OAP of grey hair, twin set and pearls or a flat cap,...
Hospitals and GPs in Essex are being criticised for failing to identify a tumour the size of an orange despite repeated attendances by the patient. Mr Purkiss attended his GP practice on three occasions in January 2011 and February 2011...
Dr Mark Potter, Chairman of the British Medical Association's Consultants Committee, has raised concerns about increased NHS waiting lists for tests and treatments. His comments will no doubt add pressure to David Cameron who has stressed that patients...
On 30th July 2011 Britain’s first IVF Lottery will launch after the gambling commission granted a licence to the fertility advice charity ‘To Hatch.’ The charity will sell raffle tickets online for £20 and the lucky winner...
In England, hospitals are expected to see patients within 18 weeks – the standard waiting time provided by health chiefs. It has been said that financial problems in the NHS are likely to cause a rise in waiting times in England over the...
It was reported in the national news yesterday that a company has been raffling off cosmetic surgery procedures in a monthly prize draw. But is a nip/tuck or a breast enlargement really something which should be trivialised in such a way? ...
I read about an alarming case recently concerning a young woman who now suffers from major mental health issues after the misdiagnosis of her meningitis when she was a baby. She was in the news because she has been...
A coroner has condemned midwives at Furness General Hospital in Barrow after they repeatedly failed to notice that a newborn baby had an infection, which later killed him. In October 2008, nine-day-old Joshua Titcombe died from a common infection...
A disciplinary hearing was told this week how a midwife shouted ‘no pain, no gain’ to a woman in labour whose baby was later stillborn. The Nursing and Midwifery Council heard how Biobelemoye Toby called Heather Paterson a...
Figures show that the Royal Bolton Hospital is one of the worst in the country for patients suffering from pressure sores. Research carried out by the health consultancy, Dr Foster Intelligence, shows that the Royal Bolton Hospital is in the top...
New figures show that the NHS has spent £112m since 2005 compensating patients who have suffered preventable blood clots. The figures, uncovered by thrombosis charity Lifeblood, reveal the amount that has been paid out to patients and their...
A recent investigation has revealed that thousands of patients face unnecessary surgery to remove faulty medical equipment. Researchers warn that implants; including hip replacements, breast implants and pacemakers are causing avoidable injuries and, in...
A six year old boy who suffered serious brain damage after midwives monitored his mother’s heart rate instead of his own has been awarded a compensation package totalling £4.6 million. This week, the High Court approved the damages...
The family of Alan Hickman, who recently died after being starved of oxygen during his stay at Russells Hall Hospital, are now taking legal action against The Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Mr Hickman had been admitted to...
Karen Burk was recently given no choice but to bring an end to her long battle to achieve compensation for her 13 year old daughter, who suffers from spina bifida and hydrocephalus. Together with another 140 families, she was taking court action...
A major new series of reports has revealed that annually around 4,000 babies in the UK die unexpectedly in the last months of pregnancy or during labour. This constitutes one of highest rates of stillbirth in Europe. Alarmingly, one third of UK stillbirths...
More than twenty women have successfully challenged a Yorkshire hospital after a series of botched breast cancer operations, according to the Yorkshire Post newspaper. Almost £1.2 million in medical negligence compensation was issued to...
The High Court awarded Callum Davies, an eight year old boy, over £2 million in damages this week after he was left disabled following his birth in 2002 at Nevill Hall Hospital. Callum Davies was starved of oxygen after his birth was...
On 27 October 2010, Caren Paterson, 33, collapsed in her bedroom and her boyfriend dialled 999 at 1.39 pm to report that she was unconscious, breathing abnormally and had blue lips. However, crews failed to respond because her home was...
Shortages of staff, a rising birth rate, lack of training and inadequate equipment has meant that fourteen NHS trusts have significantly raised baby death rates which are up to twice the national average. An over-stretched and under-resourced service is...
Twenty six women, undergoing breast surgery at an NHS hospital between 2005 and 2008 have been awarded a total of £1.2m in compensation following botched surgery . The women have suffered problems following surgery including scarring,...
It has been reported that some deaths in intensive care units are attributable as unnecessary deaths across the UK and is being caused by the lack of a cheap and simple breathing monitor on NHS intensive care wards. The Royal College of...
Thirty eight patients have been contacted by Public Health Wales after it emerged that they were put at risk of contracting Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) during surgery in the Abertawe Bro Morgannwg Health Board area. CJD is a rare (usually...
It has been reported that Jenny Simpson, from Norwich, has paid £1 for the "right" to take over the compensation case of former hospital patient Alan Catchpole, who contracted an MRSA infection whilst undergoing surgery in 2005. ...
An investigation is now being conducted after two kidney transplant patients were left facing a battle with cancer. Rob Law and Gillian Smart, who had the transplants at Royal Liverpool Hospital, received the kidneys from a donor who had a rare form of...
A Harley Street surgeon who accidentally set a patient on fire during a breast enhancement operation and then tried to cover it up today faced a General Medical Council hearing in Manchester. The accident occurred in September 2008 at the London...
A surgeon who removed a baby’s bladder by mistake at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital in 2008 is to return to work at the Royal Bolton Hospital. Consultant Paediatric Surgeon, Pierina Kapur, cut out 90% of the seven week old...
A disabled man whose life was forever changed following a botched operation has been awarded seven-figure compensation on the grounds of clinical negligence . Stuart Morley suffered a burst bowel when medical experts at St Mark's Hospital closed...
A report published yesterday by Action against Medical Accidents (AvMA) has shown that hospitals are putting patients’ lives in danger by failing to comply with patient safety alerts issued by the National Patient Safety Agency. The...
Around 94 babies died in the West Midlands during 2008 and 2009. Research has shown that of those deaths, an estimated 35 baby deaths could have been prevented if the maternity care provided was better. In a report conducted by an independent...
It has today been revealed that the levels of care afforded to elderly patients in NHS hospitals is not improving, despite reports in November that urged for improvement of the care provided. The NHS is failing to treat elderly patients in...
The High Court has rejected any change to abortion law that would enable women to take some of the pills used to induce a miscarriage, at home. Around a third of women who terminate their pregnancies in England and Wales every year use the...
More and more people are going abroad to have cosmetic surgery as undoubtedly one of the main reasons for going abroad is because it is cheaper. Top plastic surgeons have warned that people who go abroad for cosmetic operations are putting their...
An inquiry has revealed that a consultant radiologist at Accrington Victoria Hospital wrongly gave 61 women the all clear for breast cancer. According to the independent report, Dr Glenn Kelly, the former director of breast screening for East...
Investigations in 2009 and 2010 identified that between 400 and 1,200 more people died than would have been expected at Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust. In addition, patients were found abandoned without food, drink or medication. Some were left in...
An eight year old boy has received a £6.4 million payout after he was left severely brain damaged due to mistakes made during his delivery at a midwife-led birth centre. Theo Kramer was delivered at the Edgware Birth Centre in 2002...
A mother from Nottinghamshire has today revealed the details of the traumatic birth she underwent last year, disgracing the maternity department of Kings Mill Hospital. Sharon Willoughby, from Sutton in Ashfield attended Kings Mill Hospital, part of...
From April 2011, NHS hospitals will be required to treat patients in single sex areas or face financial penalties. The Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, said: “It is vital that the NHS supports patients by protecting their dignity. The...
Doctors in the North West have been told to stop giving flu jabs to children despite a decision earlier this month to use stocks of the vaccine to prevent the spread of the disease in children. The decision to vaccinate children was made earlier...
Young parents who lost their first baby 36 minutes after his birth have been told by the coroner that his life could have been saved if staff at Stepping Hill Hospital had reacted sooner. Harley Hikin-Balderson was born on 11 September 2009 and...
The Government are today due to announce what is being dubbed as ‘the biggest planned overhaul of the NHS since its creation’, The Health and Social Care Bill. The reforms are aiming to pave the way for General Practitioners to...
With buildings that are sicker than the patients being admitted, how can NHS medics provide their patients with a suitable standard of care? According to a recent investigation by the Department of Health a fifth of all NHS buildings failed to...
During the 1970s and 1980s, people were treated with tainted blood products resulting in thousands being infected with Hepatitis C and HIV. A review conducted by the Department of Health into the support available for those infected, was...
The Department of Health have stated that pregnant women should expect “consistently excellent maternity services no matter the time of day or night.” It is therefore of great concern that Dr Falconer, President of the Royal College of...
Since the introduction of Implanon in the UK in 1999, it has been revealed that 584 women using this had become pregnant, according to The Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Service. As a result of the incorrect administration of the Implanon...
Just before Christmas, five week old Harvey Flanagan was seriously ill at Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital, following an unacceptable delay in diagnosis of swine flu. A number of days prior to his admission, Harvey’s parents...
The recent swine flu deaths of two hospital patients, one in St Helens and one in Liverpool, has brought the whole question of clinical care back into the news. While there is no suggestion that either of them died as a result of clinical negligence ,...
The Dr Foster Hospital Guide has now been published. The aim of the guide was to ‘put more information – and power – into the hands of the patient, and the public, by giving them an independent view on where the healthcare was working and...
A tragic story has emerged today of a city lawyer who sadly passed away, aged only 48, after doctors failed to identify abnormal cells on seven occasions following routine smear tests. Mrs Phillips underwent regular smear tests whilst a...
Agency Nurse, Violette Aylward, is the subject of an investigation being carried out by the Nursing and Midwifery Council, after accidently switching off the life support machine of Mr Jamie Merret. Mr Merret is cared for at home on a life...
In April 2009 the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) launched a ‘never events’ policy which applies to all NHS treatment in England . ‘Never events’ are events which are preventable and should never happen to patients in NHS...
The General Medical Council (GMC) is currently investigating the fitness to practise of Dr James Johnson, a vascular surgeon who carried out procedures at NHS hospitals in Runcorn and Warrington for the North Cheshire Hospitals NHS Trust. ...
A new report suggests the NHS should cut more than 30,000 hospital beds to help improve patient care and save money. The report suggests cutting these beds would save cash and create competition which would drive up standards. Thinktank...
Earlier this week, an official review identified an alarming lack of regulation and ‘professional greed’ in relation to the performance of cosmetic surgery. Expertise The National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and...
I think most people assume that when they are administered drugs by a doctor, nurse or other clinician they are being given the correct drug and dosage for their condition. Unfortunately, recent studies show that sadly, this is not always the case. ...
A 31 year old man is recovering from a full face transplant at his home in Barcelona . The man had been left unable to breathe, swallow, or talk properly after an accident 5 years ago. A shooting accident meant his entire facial skin and...
The World Health Organization has dropped its recommendation that fewer births be carried out by Caesarean section, saying there was no evidence for a limit. Ultimately, hospitals will hopefully not pressure women into having vaginal births. ...
A patient who underwent a nine-hour heart operation at Glenfield Hospital in Leicester died after a surgical swab was left inside his body. Evidence at the inquest revealed that the scrub nurse had noticed a swab was missing but this had not...
After pursuing a clinical negligence claim that has gone on for over seven years, a family have finally received an award for the significant injuries their son, Lewis, sustained at birth back in 2002. The problems...
Midwives and other staff involved in delivering babies are being warned about leaving swabs inside the vaginas of women who have just given birth. Swabs are commonly used after vaginal births, where there is bleeding. However, if left inside the...
It is very much in the public domain the charges that have been brought against medical professional, GP Dr Murray, in relation to the singer's death on 25 June last year. Dr Murray has been charged with the act of...
The NHS is looking into if it should break with convention and recommend the use of an unlicensed treatment for patients at risk of blindness. Lucentis is the preferred option for wet age-related macular degeneration, but at £10,000 per...
The General Medical Council (GMC) heard today that a surgeon appeared ‘surprised’ after mistakenly removing a patient’s testicle. The patient was due to have routine surgery to remove a cyst from his testicle, however, the surgeon, Dr...
It is today reported that Unions have questioned why bosses have had above-inflation rises when ordinary workers have had much lower rises. It is quoted that top managers in England's...
How was it that a doctor, who did not obtain his qualifications in this country, whose first language was not English, who was probably fatigued, who received a less than adequate induction and who was unfamiliar with the NHS system, and who did not know...
Controversy has arisen regarding the NHS target to treat people visiting accident and emergency departments within four hours, and might I add, rightly so. Whilst comments have been made regarding the fact that having a target in place to treat...
I was shocked to read that the appalling standards of care offered at Stafford Hospital meant that up to 1,200 people may have needlessly died between 2005 and 2008. A Report, provided by Robert Francis QC, comments that the Hospital...
A recent survey on 1,000 young girls worryingly reveals that nearly 50% of teenagers would consider undergoing invasive surgery to improve their looks. Whilst the figures are not altogether surprising given today’s unrealistic...
The NHS has reportedly turned to Conditional Fee Agreements (No Win No Fee) despite being a strong critique of the system in the past. The NHS has reported a large rise in cases against them which are being funded by Conditional Fee...
I was extremely saddened to hear about the tragic death of a 14 year old school girl in Coventry on Monday, only a few hours after she had been provided with a jab to protect her against cervical cancer. A number of...
The already tarnished reputation of the NHS and specifically its nurses suffered yet another hammer blow last week. The Patient Association published a damning report entitled ‘Patients Not Numbers, People Not Statistics’ which...
The NHS has recently announced the launch of the national swine flu helpline. The helpline aims to relieve the burden on NHS staff by diagnosing swine flu over the telephone, based solely on a patient’s description of their symptoms. ...
I was shocked but not surprised to learn that, over the last few years, the number of surgical mistakes made within the NHS has increased dramatically. Indeed, there was a 47% increase in patients suffering an “unintentional cut, puncture,...
Once again the NHS is in the news this week, this time for incorrectly diagnosing cancer. Mr Collins is set to sue the NHS following the incorrect diagnosis which he claims has now ruined his life. The ordeal started in 2008...
