Settlement victory for motorcyclist involved in road traffic accident

Fletchers Solicitors’ Caroline Morris and Aimee Moorcroft were recently successful in negotiating a significant financial settlement for one of their clients despite difficult accident circumstances and poor prospects of the case succeeding.

Their client had sustained a life changing spinal cord injury after being involved in a road traffic accident whilst riding his motorcycle.

Caroline and Aimee carried out a detailed investigation into the accident in order to give their client a chance of pursuing a case.

Having completed the investigation, a meeting between the parties was proposed where Caroline and Aimee successfully negotiated a  settlement for their client.

The settlement secured will offer the client with much needed funds for his future with the offer surpassing the clients expectations.

Caroline Morris and Louise Cassidy secure seven figure settlement for motorcyclist who sustained multiple serious injuries

Caroline Morris and Louise Cassidy recently acted for a motorcyclist following his involvement in a road traffic accident.

Their client sustained multiple serious injuries in the accident including a brachial plexus and bilateral sacral plexus injury.

Liability was in dispute but resolved on a 2/3 basis in the clients favour following negotiation, with the final settlement of the case being resolved for a 7 figure sum recently.

Caroline and Louise instructed Simon Kilvington QC from Byrom Street Chambers.

24-year-old mother receives £30,000 settlement after Hospital admits to negligible laparotomy surgery

A 24-year-old mother has received a £30,000 settlement after a laparotomy resulted in a lifetime risk of an incisional hernia and bowel obstruction.

On 18th April 2017, Lauren Smith from Leicestershire was expected to undergo a routine laparoscopy at Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation for suspected endometriosis and replacement coil.

However, intra-operatively Lauren sustained a vascular injury resulting in significant blood loss. She therefore required a blood transfusion, conversion to a laparotomy, mobilisation of the colon, aorta and iliac vessels and repair of the damaged artery.

Hannah Ashcroft, Medical Negligence Solicitor at Fletchers Solicitors who represented Lauren against the Defendant, found that it was upon insertion of the trocar during surgery that Lauren sustained an intra-abdominal vascular injury.

Whilst Lauren made a good recovery from her injuries, as a result of the laparotomy, she was placed at a lifetime risk of incisional hernia (10%), small bowel obstruction (10%) and faced a 3% risk of requiring surgery to relieve any such small bowel obstruction.

Kettering General Hospital NHS Foundation Trust admitted there was a failure by the consultant to adequately supervise the senior trainee whilst the laparoscopy was being performed and that the laparoscopy was not performed with reasonable care and skill.

Hannah said: “I am delighted to have secured this settlement on behalf of Lauren and hope that she is now able to move forward with her life, enjoy her compensation monies and her newborn baby.”

Comment: Over 25% of patients leave GPs at the hand of a digital service


Article written by Medical Negligence Solicitor and Team Leader, Darren Tamplin-Compton

After recently highlighting concerns in delays to reporting by the health regulator, the Care Quality Commission (CQC), upon GP at Hand’s controversial video consultation service, GPOnline now reports that more than one in four NHS patients who registered with Babylon GP at Hand, left the video consultation service within a little over a year. 

Between November 2017 and January 2019 a total of 55,556 patients joined the digital provider of GP services, according to figures obtained by GPonline under the Freedom of Information Act. 

Over the same period, 15,623 patients deregistered from the service; more than one in four of the total number who signed up. 

GP at Hand’s website explains that it is “An NHS GP practice that works around you” and that “GPs are available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. Every session is free, no matter how long the appointment lasts. We offer a full NHS GP service including digital appointments, physical appointments at one of our five locations, repeat prescriptions and specialist referrals. By registering, you will be switching from your current NHS practice to GP at hand… Babylon GP at hand is available to everyone who lives or works within 40 minutes of our five London clinics.” 

According to GPOnline, the rapid turnover of patients was ‘concerning’ since such behaviour would leave the NHS facing significant increased costs. Finance papers published earlier this month by Hammersmith and Fulham CCG revealed that a £10 million hole in its finances, triggered by GP at Hand could threaten other services in the area.

GP at Hand (which is hosted by a West London GP practice) admitted that the figures reflected the likelihood that many of the people signing up for the service were unaware that doing so meant that they would be deregistered from their existing physical GP surgery. 

November 2017 is the point that the digital provider began to grow its patient list exponentially using out-of-area patient registration rules to entice patients living and working across a wide area in and around London. 

The latest official figures show that Babylon GP at Hand now has over 46,000 patients in total; almost 10 times the number in November 2017.  More than half of patients registered with the service are aged 20 to 29 and 85% are aged 20 to 39.  This has led to accusations of ‘cherry picking’, the younger and generally healthier / cheaper demographic of patients; which GP at Hand denies. 

Chair of the BMA GP committee, Dr Richard Vautrey, said: “This extremely rapid turnover is concerning but not in the least surprising.  People are obviously predominantly using this service as they would NHS 111, for immediate and short-term care rather than long-term continuity of care… Not surprisingly patients won’t understand the NHS funding consequences of this pattern of behaviour, with the significant increased costs to the NHS compared with routine GP services. To provide this to all patients would rapidly bankrupt the NHS which is why urgent steps need to be taken to reform the out-of-area registration arrangements, something I’ll be calling again for in my LMC [Local Medical Committees] conference speech.”

A spokesperson for Babylon GP at Hand told GPonline: “We now see far fewer people de-registering from Babylon GP at Hand.  We believe the figures you cite are a legacy from the launch of Babylon GP at Hand when many people did not realise they would have to de-register from their existing practice… We greatly improved how clear we are regarding registration and new users are fully aware that, just as with anyone joining any new NHS GP practice, they must de-register from their existing practice first as they can only be registered with one.’

Darren Tamplin-Compton, Senior Solicitor and Team Leader within Fletcher’s Medical Negligence Team, who lives in rural Suffolk, said: “Whilst the perceived economies of scale and the potential financial attractiveness to GPs of delivering predominantly digital or telephone services to the relatively well and young, seem obvious, it is clear that the service has not suited all participants and has raised the spectre of significant financial ramifications for the local CCG in which this operator is sited. 

“Whilst Babylon GP at Hand should probably be commended for its innovative approach, personally, I would rather see existing, forward thinking GP surgeries stepping up to routinely offer video-conferencing to those patients that are comfortable using that technology, rather than huge, out of community based or led, conglomerates stealing a march on traditional GP practices. It will be interesting to both see Dr Vautrey’s address to the Local Medical Committees conference in Belfast, today, calling for changes to the GP contract to ‘limit abuse of the out of area regulations’ and to gauge the response of the conference. 

Comment: NHS’ Cataract removal cuts are a costly mistake, says Medical Negligence Solicitor

Responding to the news that NHS England are to restrict patients’ access to cataract removal, Kathryn Sharkey, Medical Negligence Solicitor at Fletchers Solicitors believes this undermines patients’ needs and will cost the health service more in the long run.

“With an ever ageing society the news that patients’ access to cataract removal treatment is disappointing. 

“Cataract surgery is the most common operation performed in the UK with a high success rate in improving eyesight. 

“Vision loss has a major negative impact on the quality of older people’s lives. Sight remains as valued and important in later life as at any other age and its loss is one of the things older people fear most. Improving access to eye care services for this age group, as well as older people’s uptake of such services, is therefore very important. 

“To reduce patient access to the type of treatment they require will have the obvious negative impact on care services and will send such costs soaring which is the precise effect that the limiting of cataract treatment access is seeking to gain. 

“The decision is short sighted.”

M60 motorway crash results in substantial serious injury settlement for hospitalised male

A 33-year-old male has received almost £34,000 in a serious injury settlement after being hospitalised with a series of injuries when the driver of another vehicle opened a door into oncoming traffic.

Daniel Ellis, was carefully filtering passed queuing vehicles at a slip road exit of the M60 motorway, Junction 23 in Ashton-under-Lyme, when the collision happened. The other party accepted liability for the accident.

Daniel spent four nights in hospital with a string of serious injuries that included a compound fracture of his right knee which required surgery, a fracture of his clavicle and a foot injury.

Daniel was also diagnosed with benign paroxysmal positional vertigo due to a minor head injury which troubled him for 8-9 months after the accident.

Daniel had to take two months off work following the accident and took many months to return to his normal duties.

Michelle Heyes, Serious Injury – Multi Track Solicitor who represented Daniel said:

“Daniel worked extremely hard towards his recovery from these significant injuries and I’m really pleased to have been able to help him successfully pursue his claim”.

Comment: New NHS cancer diagnosis strategy is a step in the right direction

A Junior Litigation Executive at Fletchers Solicitors has welcomed the news that the NHS are looking to overhaul the existing cancer diagnosis strategy so patients can receive treatment sooner.

Jessica Sephton, who works in Fletcher’s Medical Negligence Department, said the following:

There isn’t a single one of us who either directly or indirectly, hasn’t been affected by cancer.

As many as 163,444 people have died in the UK from cancer since 2016 and yet still, many patients are waiting too long to receive a diagnosis and treatment following cancer scares and referrals.

Latest figures from NHS England show that only half of patients are diagnosed with cancer in the early stages, and nearly one in four of those wait far longer than the standard two months they should to receive treatment.

This is reported to be the worst performance since records began.

Fortunately, it seems as though steps are being taken to ensure that this scary statistic can be changed.

According to Cancer Research UK, NHS England are currently working towards a ‘Faster Diagnosis Standard’ (FDS) target, meaning that the potentially prolonged journey from referral to diagnosis could take no longer than 28 days.

From April 2019, hospitals throughout the UK will be encouraged start actioning the FDS for patients who are urgently referred from cervical screenings, with suspected bowel or breast cancer. From April 2020, hospitals will be expected to show that they have met this target and how they intend to continue meeting it.

Currently, over half of cancers are diagnosed at a late stage in England, and it’s refreshing to see that action is being taken to change this terrifying figure.

It was only in the past few weeks that Lisa Pamman’s case hit the headlines. Lisa, a GP Health Manager, reported that after 18 months of abdominal pains and numerous trips to her GP and local A&E department she was diagnosed with late-stage bowel cancer. She then subsequently didn’t receive treatment for a further 3 months.

Unfortunately, in my role at Fletchers Solicitors, I frequently deal with cases on behalf of claimants who could have so easily been seen quicker, referred sooner and received swifter treatment such that the likelihood of remission seems far from reality.

To know that NHS England are making even the slightest improvements to the process in which patients are seen can only be a step in the right direction to ensure that the unacceptable practices we see on a daily basis will change for the better.  

Motorcyclist receives £55,000 in serious injury settlement after A-road collision

A 62-year-old male has received a £55,500 serious injury settlement after a vehicle that was travelling in the opposite direction turned into his path and caused a serious collision.

Keith Robinson, from Lincolnshire was riding his motorcycle along the A46 Caistor bypass when the third party, who was travelling in the opposite direction, turned into his path. The other driver accepted liability for the accident.

As a result of the collision, Mr Robinson suffered an open fracture to right tibia & fibula (right leg) with skin damage, dislocation of the right little finger, soft tissue injuries and lacerations to both knees.

Mr Robinson who was a self-employed Maintenance Operative, was unable to work for 11 months after the accident and was never able to return to his normal duties, partially as a result of the injuries suffered in the accident.

Fletchers Solicitor’s Serious Injury Lawyer, Michelle Heyes represented Mr Robinson and was able to assist in settling the case in January 2019.

Michelle said: “Assisting Keith in pursuing his claim after suffering such a nasty injury was real pleasure and I wish him all the very best for the future”.

Speaking in reflection of the case experience, Mr Robinson said:

“Fletchers Solicitors have given me Peace of mind and I can pay my mortgage over the next year.”

Comment: Is the NHS about to scrap failing waiting time targets in favour of new ‘rapid assessment’ measure?

Comment written by Jessica Sephton, Junior Litigation Executive within Fletchers Solicitors Medical Negligence Team.

The Department of Health first introduced the four-hour waiting target for A&E Departments up and down the country back in 2004.

The objective was clear. Patients were simply not being seen soon enough, so in an attempt to amend this, targets were set to ensure that at least 98% of people attending A&E must be seen, treated and admitted/discharged within four hours of entering the building.

The target continued to drop as the years went by, falling from the optimistic 98% to a more realistic 95%. This again was altered in 2017 when Jeremy Hunt advised that this target would now only apply to ‘urgent health problems’.

Fast forward 15 years, and waiting times have reached an all-time low since records began.

During January this year, only 84.4% patients were being seen within the designated timeframe. 333000 patients waited longer than they should have. If that’s not frightening enough, it’s been noted that A&E targets were last hit in July 2015, and the numbers continue to plummet.

So what is causing this scary statistic?

Is it a case of hypochondriacs running wild, or is the NHS buckling under pressure?  

In a world where it’s easier to revert to Dr Google than wait weeks for an appointment with your GP, it’s no surprise that the NHS and A&E Departments are unable to handle the high demand, and it’s not about to get better in the upcoming weeks.

Dr Nick Scriven, of the Society of Acute Medicine said ‘hospitals are working flat out at the moment, and we have a looming spell of bank holidays, when many support services will not be functioning, heaping up the already relentless pressure.’

So it’s fair to say that it has not come as a surprise that the NHS is considering scrapping the waiting target altogether and trailling a new ‘rapid assessment’ measure.

Patients could soon be assessed the moment they walk through the door to prioritise the more critical conditions and ensure targets are met. It is not yet clear when these steps will be taken, but as it is unlikely the NHS will ever hit their four-hour target again, it will be an interesting development to watch unfold.

Comment: Fletchers Solicitors hopeful that Discount Rate change remains fair

Comment written by Molly Barker, Trainee Solicitor within Fletchers Solicitors Medical Negligence Department.

The Lord Chancellor, David Gauke recently announced that the first review of the discount rate under the Civil Liability Act commenced on 19th March 2019.

The discount rate (a tool utilised by the Court to calculate future losses) is based on the assumption that a successful claimant will generally invest their compensation in investments when they are awarded a lump sum payment.

The new rate is to be determined by 5th August 2019 and at present, there is no indication as to what the new rate will be.

Historically set at 2.5% (2001 until 2017), the discount rate is as a calculation based on the average return on Index-Lined Government Stock (Government Bonds) over three years.

Government Bonds were selected as the base for this calculation as they are viewed as safe, long-term investments.

However, the economic climate has changed significantly in recent years and in February 2017, Lord Chancellor Liz Truss announced that she was going to change the discount rate.

On 27th February 2017, after much campaigning, the discount rate was changed from 2.5% to negative 0.75%.

This change has ultimately seen the value of an injured claimant’s compensation increase overnight.

One of the first cases that settled under the new compensation rules saw an NHS Trust forced to pay nearly triple the amount of damages.

A 10-year-old girl suffered Cerebral Palsy as a result of hospital negligence and due to the discount rate having changed from 2.5% to the negative 0.75%, the claimant’s damages increased from 3.8 million to 9.3 million.

For this claimant, the change in the discount rate vastly improved her long-term future.

The aim of lump sum awards is to compensate any injured person for all expected losses as a result of an injury or negligence.

This then provides those injured with full compensation in response to the wrong doing they have experienced.

With the new discount rate to be set in summer 2019, claimant solicitors such as Fletchers Solicitors are hoping that the change remains fair so claimants are properly remunerated for their anticipated future losses.

Some seriously injured claimants may be unable to return to work for the rest of their life and may need specialist care and therefore, claimants should be entitled to recover full compensation due to the likelihood of future financial uncertainty.

Meet our new Charity partner – together we’ll keep people well

By Peter Haden, CEO

At the back end of last year, it was announced that British Lung Foundation would be the ‘national’ Charity of the Year for 2022, and we have some exciting developments regarding this partnership.

We’re excited to announce that Fletchers and Asthma + Lung UK (Formerly Asthma UK and British Lung Foundation Partnership) are launching a charity partnership to make meaningful change and keep people well, by supporting the continuation of their helpline.[vc_separator color=”custom” accent_color=”#164c48″]

Why are we announcing the partnership?

  • 10,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with a lung condition every week
  • 1.1 million children with Asthma
  • Lung disease is the third biggest killer after heart disease and cancer, but rates of diagnosis for some serious diseases are getting worse and only 2% of public spend on medical research is into lung conditions

1 in 5 people in the UK will develop a lung condition in their lifetime, that’s someone in every family, workplace, and friendship circle, including some of our Fletcherians, which is why we thought it would be a great charity to support.

What does the partnership involve?

Fletchers and Asthma + Lung UK are coming together to support healthy lungs, keeping people well across the nation

We are aiming to raise £10,000 through employee payroll giving and fundraising events, to help fund calls to the helpline.

This would help more than 700 people living with a lung condition in the UK to access the help they need.

The helpline provides support via the following ways:

  • It provides trusted, specialist information and advice from Asthma + Lung UK’s health care advisers and respiratory nurse specialists
  • Helpline specialists take as long as they need to talk through issues with the callers
  • They support people who may be isolated and don’t know who else to turn to
  • It reduces pressure on NHS services

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How will we achieve the fundraising aim?

This will be achieved through monthly employee payroll giving donations and an array of engaging fundraising events, like the return of the office-to-office challenge (more details coming soon).

We will be holding our first fundraising day on Thursday 21st April, with ‘Go Orange’, where we encourage the whole business to wear orange, have orange backgrounds on teams etc. and donate £2 to the cause.

Colleagues will be able to donate via the charity tins located at each office and via the JustGiving link.

Sarah Woolnough, CEO of Asthma + Lung UK, said:

 

“We’re so thankful to employees at Fletchers who have voted us as their Charity of the Year. The money raised through fundraising and donations will fund more than 700 calls to our helpline, allowing us to support hundreds of people with lung conditions with advice and support on everything from help getting a diagnosis, ways to manage their condition and even financial support and advice.”[vc_separator color=”custom” accent_color=”#164c48″]

Why is it important to Fletchers to get involved in partnerships like this?

The exec leadership team believe that it is important to everyone at Fletchers that it is a responsible business and is giving back to the communities that it represents.

This is the reason we are focusing on Corporate Social Responsibility and partnering with like-minded charities to make a real change to communities and its people.

Asthma + Lung UK is a brilliant charity to kick this off with as the issues of lung conditions affect many people in communities as well as many of our colleagues.

We’re looking forward to building this partnership over the next 9 months and to see what we can achieve together. We will send updates throughout the partnership and encourage all Fletcherians and stakeholders to get involved in our fundraising activities in 2022.

Cancer: A global problem

By Jennifer Argent

World Cancer Day occurs on 4th February every year in an attempt to draw attention to the global problem of cancer. Cancer is an issue all over the world and recent statistics show that across the globe over 10 million people die each year as a result of suffering from this condition. Ten million people is more than the entire population of London in 2020. If the calculations are correct then that’s more people than those dying from AIDs, malaria and tuberculosis combined. What’s worse is that experts project deaths from cancer to increase.

Close the Gap

World Cancer day chooses a different focus each year and this year they are campaigning to ‘Close the Gap’. What they mean by this is that across the world there are stark inequities in fighting cancer. They note that over 65% of cancer deaths are happening in the least developed parts of the world.

There are inequities in income, education, location and even discriminations due to ethnicity, gender, age and disability which are still having a negative effect on cancer care. For example, the World Health Organisation reports that late stage presentation is more common in low and middle-income countries. World Cancer Day reports that in New Zealand, Maori are twice as likely to die from cancer than those who are not Maori.

Early detection is crucial

Early detection of cancer can lead to huge improvements in life expectancy following a cancer diagnosis. However, often these detection and screening schemes are not widely available in lower income countries. The World Health Organisation launched the Global Initiative for Cancer Registry Development (GICR) in 2011 which aims to accurately measure the burden of cancer with a view to improving health, economic and social outcomes.

The GICR realises that equitable access to cancer prevention and treatment can save lives. Once the data is gathered it is then shared across its Regional Hubs to coordinate the distribution of knowledge and resources. This programme will ultimately continue to benefit millions of people across the globe.

HPV vaccine

The UICC is also fighting a global fight against cancer and they reported in June 2020 that five HPV vaccine manufacturers had committed to provide sufficient HPV doses for 84 million girls to support immunisation programmes in low and middle-income countries. This supports the World Health Organisations goal to eliminate cervical cancer on a global scale, driven by the knowledge that at the moment, low and middle-income countries account for up to 90% of all cases of cervical cancer.

If you want to find out more about the impact of cancer across the world, World Cancer Day will be hosting 11 hours of discussions and testimonies from experts, cancer survivors and discussing cancer and its effects. Join them Live at https://www.worldcancerday.org/live

References;
https://www.worldcancerday.org/
https://www.uicc.org/news/gavi-global-vaccine-summit-%E2%80%93-hpv-vaccinations-essential-eliminating-cervical-cancer
https://gicr.iarc.fr/about-the-gicr/partnership-model/

Jennifer Argent is a Solicitor within Fletchers’ Medical Negligence Department.