As the National Health Service is set to face upcoming winter pressure, earlier this month, PM Sir Keir Starmer promised to draw up a new 10-year plan for the health service, as he said there will be no extra NHS funding without reform.
Now, recent research by the World Health Organisation found that in 2023, there were almost 230,000 complaints relation to clinical negligence.
Now, recent research by the World Health Organisation found that in 2023, there were almost 230,000 complaints relation to clinical negligence.
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00:00There was a report from Lord Darzi last week commissioned and published in relation to
00:08assessing what the state of the NHS is in, what the key components are in terms of areas
00:15of focus for change and improvement. And so arising out of that comes a number of fairly
00:21shocking statistics in relation to the number of complaints that arise from NHS treatment,
00:28but also sort of key areas of concern, such as the extension of waiting lists, the number
00:32of patients waiting to be seen, and the number of claims that are arising out of the treatment
00:38that people are receiving.
00:40So could you just tell me a little bit more about what exactly clinical negligence is?
00:45Like how does it even come about?
00:47When a patient goes to see a doctor, dentist, either privately or within the NHS, then a
00:53duty of care arises to provide a reasonable standard of care. A claim will arise when
00:59the particular clinician breaches that duty of care and fails to provide a standard of
01:04care that no reasonable, responsible, respectable body of clinicians acting in that profession
01:10at that material time would have delivered. And an independence expert would be instructed
01:15to provide an opinion that assesses whether or not the treatment provided was reasonable.
01:20New initiatives such as the duty of candor mean that NHS trusts are being open and candid
01:27with patients when things have gone wrong. They're commissioning their own investigations,
01:31they're trying to create a culture within themselves that will allow for investigations
01:38and where an instance where harm has been occurred, and it's been avoidable, that those
01:43incidences can be looked at to try and make sure that patient safety is at the first and
01:50foremost paramount concern and lessons are learned from mistakes that are made. The government
01:54really need to focus and give some funding to that to allow the change to be implemented.