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26 July 2021
Mike Knight, ARAG, discusses the future of Clinical Negligence
Like almost every other profession, discipline and walk of life, clinical negligence practitioners have seen a huge transformation wrought by the pandemic.
Mike Knight
By all accounts, the sector coped remarkably well under the restrictions that were so hastily introduced, last year. A lot of credit has rightly been given to the engineers of the COVID-19 Clinical Negligence Protocol agreed between NHS Resolution the Society of Clinical Injury Lawyers (SCIL) and Action Against Medical Accidents (AvMA).
The protocol, however, was not formally introduced until August, by which time solicitors, barristers, judges and numerous other professionals had already found new ways to progress cases in the highly challenging circumstances, and even hold hearings in person, where necessary and possible.
The low down
For the public, former Tory chancellor Nigel Lawson once observed, the National Health Service is the closest thing the country has to a religion. And the NHS is, indeed, many things to many people – from Europe’s single largest employer to a fiercely contested political battlefield. It is also under-resourced and, in dealing with Covid-19, has come close to breaking point. That cocktail of public devotion and periodic cash crises makes for a complex relationship between error and responsibility. Political leaders rail against the funds spent on medical negligence cases. Yet there is scant evidence of lawyers or clients ‘taking advantage’ of the pandemic to bring claims against the Covid-battered NHS. And if ‘no-fault’ compensation replaced legal battles, the ultimate bill would be higher.