The Royal College of Midwives (RCM), the midwifery trade union, have confirmed that they are bringing to an end their 12-year-long campaign to promote “normal” births. In a statement dated 14 th August, the RCM confirmed that following its...
NHS Resolution, the newly rebranded NHS Litigation Authority, has issued a leaflet for healthcare practitioners about the importance of saying sorry when things go wrong. In an open demonstration of NHS Resolution’s new focus on upstream...
In a recent post I commented on the RCOG’s report, Each Baby Counts . The report, published in June, reiterated the commitment of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists to reduce by half the number of stillbirths,...
July is International Group B Strep Awareness Month and we’re helping raise awareness about the risks of group B streptococcal (GBS) infection to newborn babies. GBS is a common bacterium that is carried harmlessly by one in five women,...
It’s Cerebra’s head awareness week and we’re working with the charity to raise awareness of the challenges faced by children with brain conditions. Everyday tasks, activities, interactions and experiences can all present a...
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) – the professional association which works to improve women’s healthcare by publishing clinical guidelines and advising government – has published its report, Each Baby...
The former NHSLA has published its first business plan under its new name, NHS Resolution. The 2017/2018 plan re-launches the Special Health Authority that was formerly responsible for defending and indemnifying legal claims brought against the NHS, as it...
In my last post I commented on the Ministry of Justice’s recent consultation paper, The Personal Injury Discount Rate: How Should It Be Set In Future? I expressed my concerns about the Ministry of Justice’s attempt to circumvent...
On 30 th March 2017, just ten days after the long awaited reduction in the discount rate came into force, the Ministry of Justice has issued a consultation, The Personal Injury Discount Rate: How it should be set in future. The consultation...
The Department of Health has published the outcome of the Consultation, Providing a ‘Safe Space’ in Healthcare Safety Investigations , which it launched in October 2016. The Consultation proposed the creation of a statutory...
Leading disabled people’s charity, Scope, have published their new strategy for the next five years. “Everyday Equality – Scope’s Strategy 2017- 2022” sets out the charity’s vision for a future in which the UK’s...
The Department of Health has issued a consultation paper seeking comments on its suggested alternative compensation scheme for babies who have been brain damaged at birth by poor medical care. The consultation, A Rapid Resolution and Redress Scheme...
The Lord Chancellor recently announced a long-awaited reduction in the discount rate which will affect the way that some compensation awards are calculated. The new discount rate of minus 0.75% replaces the current rate of 2.5%. The change, which follows...
Life is a series of transitions. We go from babyhood to nursery, from primary education to senior school. For some there is another leap to further or higher education before moving out as adults into the world of employment. For most of us the significance...
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has published its guideline for the assessment and management of cerebral palsy in children and young people under the age of 25. The guideline aims to ensure that young people with cerebral palsy...
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guideline, Jaundice in Newborn Babies under 28 days, has recently been amended to clarify the type and extent of phototherapy treatment that should be given to newborn babies with...
The Department of Health is seeking patients’ comments on its proposal to create a statutory “safe space” for NHS clinicians and staff to speak freely during healthcare safety investigations into mistakes and problems in patient care. ...
If you’re considering making a compensation claim for a disabled child you might be wondering how much your child’s claim is worth. When caused by medical negligence, serious neurological injuries such as cerebral palsy , can attract...
Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, has invited parents of children who have been injured at birth to speak out about their experiences. Their input will form part of a consultation process leading up to the introduction of a government...
One of the most frequent questions that we’re asked at Boyes Turner is, “My child has cerebral palsy. Can I claim compensation?” Our specialist medical negligence lawyers are experts in obtaining high value damages awards for babies and...
We are proud and excited to announce our partnership with Meningitis Now – a charity dedicated to fighting meningitis in the UK. We have become a Brighter Future Partner and aim to support the charity with their vision of a future where no one in...
Cerebral palsy is the general term for a number of neurological conditions that affect movement and co-ordination. It is caused by a problem in the parts of the brain responsible for controlling muscles and can occur where a brain is damaged before, during...
It’s Group B Strep Awareness month and we’re helping to raise awareness of group B Strep infection. What is Group B Strep? Group B Streptococcus (GBS) is normal bacterium most commonly found in the intestines. It is usually harmless. Why...
One in ten thousand pregnancies in the UK and Ireland results in the death of the mother. Of these 32% were due to complications during pregnancy, such as pre-eclampsia or bleeding, while 68% were due to other medical and mental health...
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) is working through it’s “Each Baby Counts” project to try to reduce this number by 50% by 2020. Of the 921 babies whose cases were reported to the project 655 (71%) had...
On March 17 we reported that the National Maternity Review had recommended a scheme be developed whereby the NHS offers financial assistance to the families of babies who are injured by avoidable mistakes during childbirth. The NHS and...
The UK Perinatal Mortality Surveillance Report 2016, published by Maternal, Newborn and Infant Clinical Outcome Review Programme (MBRRACE – UK), monitors rates of still births and neonatal deaths in the UK. This is the second perinatal report...
The National Maternity Review was published in February 2016. One of the recommendations is for a ‘rapid resolution and redress scheme’ for birth injuries. Compensation for birth injuries It is felt that the current system for obtaining...
The Cumberlege report into safer maternity care was published on Tuesday and recommends that all women should be offered the choice to give birth where they want, with the support of the same midwife throughout pregnancy, labour and the early weeks of...
The NHS will today publish a major review into the safety of maternity services. It was commissioned following the scandal at the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS trust where, over a decade, up to 30 mothers and babies died following...
The number of compensation claims for cerebral palsy and brain damage sustained at birth has barely changed since 2006/07. Obstetrics claims account for 41 per cent of the value of compensation claims for medical negligence against the NHS. It is not...
A report released earlier this month by MBRRACE-UK: Mothers and Babies: Reducing Risk through Audits and Confidential Enquiries across the UK has found that, although there are now fewer pregnancy related deaths, care in respect of women’s mental...
Bliss, the national charity dedicated to the needs of premature and sick children, has received evidence from neonatal units, neonatal transport services and parents across the country about the state of neonatal care in England in 2015. Their findings...
Following on from the Government’s recent ambitious pledge to cut the rate of babies dying and suffering brain injury by 50% by 2030, the British Medical Journal (BMJ) has just published a study indicating that there is a 7% increase in babies dying...
An independent review of NHS maternity services in England is taking place this month, with a view to making recommendations for improvements in maternity care provision. The ‘NHS Maternity Review’, being conducted in conjunction with the...
Bliss , the UK charity working to provide the best possible care and support for premature and sick babies and their families, has warned that two thirds of NHS neonatal intensive care units do not have enough nurses and doctors, and a similar number are...
The Care Quality Commission (CQC) has reported that three-quarters of NHS hospitals in England are failing to meet high standards of safety. Inspectors rated 13 per cent of hospitals “inadequate” for safety while 61 per cent...
The National Childbirth Trust has issued a warning that at least a dozen midwife-led units are under threat due to a shortage of midwives. This follows an estimate by the Royal College of Midwives that Britain is short of 10,000 midwifery staff, with low...
Save the Children’s annual ‘State of the World’s Mothers’ reports that women in the UK are more than twice as likely to die in pregnancy and childbirth as those in other European countries. Britain failed to rank in...
The Patients Association today releases a damning report into the effectiveness of the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO). The report concludes: ‘The evidence we have gathered gives a public perception of the PHSO as lacklustre, weak,...
In a speech at Birmingham Children’s hospital, the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, will claim today that Hospitals are wasting up to £2.5bn a year of the total NHS budget through basic poor care and medical error. Hunt will renew his criticism...
Public opinion has hardened against the government’s cuts to legal aid, according to the results of a poll newly published to mark the 65th anniversary of the founding of the legal aid system. Research, funded by the Law Society and carried out...
The long campaign, strongly supported by Boyes Turner, for a statutory duty of candour requiring medical staff to tell the truth when a serious error has been made is soon to come to fruition. The duty will form part of statutory regulations setting out...
Specialist cerebral palsy solicitors, Susan Brown and Vanessa Wand , of Boyes Turner secured a full admission of liability for Nicholas* in a highly complex birth injury case. The injury left Nicholas with bilateral cerebral palsy...
This recent case handed down by Judge Lush on the 20 March 2014 relates to an application for a gift to be made from the damages award of an 11 year old boy known as AK. AK has cerebral palsy as a result of injuries sustained at the time of his...
Specialist cerebral palsy solicitor Susan Brown of Boyes Turner secured a settlement at 50% of the liability case for Sophie* in a highly complex birth injury case. The injury left Sophie with severe full body cerebral palsy. The injury was...
The conclusions of a report by the president of the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) and an NHS trust chief executive will put pressure on the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, to agree to a full ‘duty of candour’ , which patients’...
A damning report on maternity care by the Public Accounts Committee suggests that women are being failed by NHS maternity services with more than 14 babies a day in England either stillborn or dying within seven days of their birth. It said there were...
Boyes Turner’s specialist cerebral palsy solicitors secured a settlement for approximately £3 million after a highly complex birth injury case. Zac suffered a brain injury at the time of his birth in 2005, and suffers...
A Care Quality Commission survey of 23,000 women who gave birth in England in February revealed significant dissatisfaction, and sometimes anger and anguish. One in four said they were left alone by midwives or doctors during or after labour or...
