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Tania Richards
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Requests for medical records: GDPR, personal data, data controllers and processors
A court has ruled that an application for pre-action disclosure of a patient’s medical records should be dismissed. Data controllers and processors take note. This case clarifies the grounds for disclosure against a non-party and in this case, a GP practice. While the decision is fact specific it serves as... Continue reading
Posted 4 days ago at Mills & Reeve: Health and Care Update
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Quality regulator fines hospital for duty of candour failings
This is the second fine the regulator has issued this year for failures in complying with the duty of candour regulation. The CQC has fined Royal Cornwall Hospitals NHS Trust £16,250. It has issued 13 fixed penalty notices of £1,250 each to the Trust for failing to notify patients or... Continue reading
Posted 6 days ago at Mills & Reeve: Health and Care Update
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Supreme Court decision: 16/17 year olds, parents and consent to confinement
The Supreme Court has ruled that where a 16 or 17 year old child cannot/does not give consent to a care regime that would meet the Cheshire West acid test (under "continuous supervision and control" and "not free to leave") this means that court authorisation not parental authorisation is required... Continue reading
Posted Oct 8, 2019 at Mills & Reeve: Health and Care Update
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Redundancy, Agenda for Change and employment tribunal claims
The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has confirmed that separate claims for statutory and contractual redundancy payments can be made in the employment tribunal. That is despite the fact that under national NHS terms and conditions (Agenda for Change) contractual redundancy payments are inclusive of statutory redundancy pay. This ruling mitigates... Continue reading
Posted Oct 8, 2019 at Mills & Reeve: Health and Care Update
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VAT liability: the scope of the exemption for medical laboratory services
The ECJ decision in the recent German case of Finanzamt Kyritz v Peters (Case C-700/17) has vindicated HMRC’s policy of treating diagnostic pathology services as VAT-exempt. The case will not result in any change to UK law or HMRC practice, but serves as a reminder of the scope of the... Continue reading
Posted Oct 7, 2019 at Mills & Reeve: Health and Care Update
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Update: review into legal aid funding for bereaved families at inquests
Earlier this year we published an article on the Ministry of Justice’s final report into their review of legal aid for inquests. A range of changes are referred to in the February 2019 report covering three areas, with the aim of improving the current legal process and fostering a more... Continue reading
Posted Oct 2, 2019 at Mills & Reeve: Health and Care Update
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Mental capacity and consent to sexual relations – the perceived lacuna
What, then, are we to make of A Local Authority v JB ? Is it a legal landmark? Following a hearing in July judgment was handed down last month. The decision of the Honourable Mrs Justice Roberts clarifies and develops the test for capacity to consent to sexual relations. Specifically... Continue reading
Posted Oct 2, 2019 at Mills & Reeve: Health and Care Update
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Capacity thresholds and the inherent jurisdiction
In a recently reported case the High Court adopted the view that it was too “arbitrary” to use the inherent jurisdiction to achieve a deprivation of liberty, while accepting that there were “strong judicial dicta” that say it should be used for “facilitative rather than dictatorial” reasons. This decision follows... Continue reading
Posted Sep 30, 2019 at Mills & Reeve: Health and Care Update
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Guidance for medical practitioners: when to report a death to the coroner
The Ministry of Justice has published guidance to help medical practitioners understand when they are obliged to report a death to the coroner. This guidance comes ahead of the new Notification of Deaths Regulations 2019, which come into force on the 1 October 2019. When to report a death? Put... Continue reading
Posted Sep 26, 2019 at Mills & Reeve: Health and Care Update
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Covert medication guidance
The Social Care Institute for Excellence and the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence have produced a quick guide on providing medicines support primarily intended for use by care home and home care managers, but which should be of interest to other professionals involved in delivering, supervising or commissioning... Continue reading
Posted Sep 24, 2019 at Mills & Reeve: Health and Care Update
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Out of hours locum GP was a worker, not self-employed
A provider of NHS out of hours GP services has lost its appeal against a ruling that one of the GPs it supplied was a worker, and not self-employed. That is a different outcome to the last time the employment status of out of hours GPs was considered by the... Continue reading
Posted Sep 23, 2019 at Mills & Reeve: Health and Care Update
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Use of an injunction to protect a vulnerable adult
In a judgment dated 5 September 2019, Mr Justice Cobb reviewed whether it had been appropriate for interim injunctions under the inherent jurisdiction to be made to protect a vulnerable adult. P, aged 32, lived at home with her parents until January 2019 when her mental health deteriorated and she... Continue reading
Posted Sep 19, 2019 at Mills & Reeve: Health and Care Update
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An update: Brexit and transitional rules for EU nationals
The Government has now published updated guidance on transitional arrangements for EU nationals that will apply in the event of a ‘no-deal’ exit from the EU. The key points for employers and staff to be aware of are as follows: EU Settlement Scheme - EU nationals who are resident in... Continue reading
Posted Sep 17, 2019 at Mills & Reeve: Health and Care Update
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Patient safety: embedding a workplace culture of learning rather than blame
Making simple shifts in approach and language to patient safety investigations can be key to changing the culture of health and care organisations. The golden thread of patient safety continues with NHS Resolution’s recently published new guidance on how leaders of all health and social care organisations can support staff... Continue reading
Posted Sep 17, 2019 at Mills & Reeve: Health and Care Update
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Landmark Court of Appeal decision in termination case
The Court of Appeal last month overturned a Court of Protection decision that it was in the best interests of a young woman with learning disabilities to undergo a termination of her pregnancy at 23 weeks gestation. The case of AB while fact specific provides healthcare professionals with a reminder... Continue reading
Posted Aug 19, 2019 at Mills & Reeve: Health and Care Update
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More clarity from the High Court on the interplay between the Mental Health Act and the Mental Capacity Act regarding DoLS and patients in the community
Last month Mrs Justice Lieven in the Court of Protection dealt with conjoined applications by two local authorities under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 for court approval of the continuation of the authorisation of care plans involving SR and JTA. The case of SR SR had been detained in a... Continue reading
Posted Aug 19, 2019 at Mills & Reeve: Health and Care Update
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Another complex case distilled on the issue of fluctuating capacity
The issue of capacity assessments for patients with long-term conditions requiring multiple decisions and careful oversight of medication, in particular, is difficult. Increasingly, the courts have been asked to consider cases involving fluctuating capacity. In a recent case involving the Royal Borough of Greenwich, the court had to grapple with... Continue reading
Posted Aug 16, 2019 at Mills & Reeve: Health and Care Update
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New target timescales for the Mental Health Casework Section to consider key decisions for restricted patients
At the start of this month, NHS England and the MHCS published target timescales to consider key decisions for restricted patients under the Mental Health Act. Timescales Various timescales are prescribed, from a same day target for recall and five days for prison transfer, up to a target of 35... Continue reading
Posted Aug 15, 2019 at Mills & Reeve: Health and Care Update
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NHS England sets out roadmap for mental health
Last month saw the publication of this exciting plan. It provides a framework for delivering on the NHS Long Term Plan commitment to pursue the most ambitious transformation of mental health care England has ever known, at a local level. Chief Executive Sean Duggan from NHS Confederation’s Mental Health Network... Continue reading
Posted Aug 14, 2019 at Mills & Reeve: Health and Care Update
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Mental health provision at emergency departments: HSIB publish a roundup of responses to its safety recommendations
Safety investigator’s report reinforces need for 24 hour mental health care at emergency departments. Emergency departments treat 220,000 cases of self-harm a year and it is estimated that approximately five per cent of all emergency department attendances are primarily due to mental ill-health. The Five Year Forward View for Mental... Continue reading
Posted Aug 13, 2019 at Mills & Reeve: Health and Care Update
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OPG updates its safeguarding adults at risk policy
Protecting the vulnerable: reporting safeguarding concerns to the Office of the Public Guardian. The OPG has updated its useful guidance (originally published on 29 April 2019) for those dealing with vulnerable people who have a registered Lasting Power of Attorney or a court appointed deputy. The guidance compliments other related... Continue reading
Posted Aug 13, 2019 at Mills & Reeve: Health and Care Update
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Driving national improvement to reduce medication errors
We posted a blog on the safety watchdog's report in May and now, this week, the Healthcare Safety Investigation Branch has published its update documenting NHS Improvement and the Royal College of Physicians’ responses to its recommendations aimed at driving improvement to reduce potentially fatal medication errors. HSIB's investigation report... Continue reading
Posted Aug 13, 2019 at Mills & Reeve: Health and Care Update
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Making digital-first primary care a reality: reforming primary care contracting
NHS Improvement and NHS England have launched a consultation on its proposals for reform to patient registration, funding and contracting rules as part of its digital-first primary care (DFPC) policy to ensure patients have both choice as well as access to integrated care. Proposals include changes to primary care contracting... Continue reading
Posted Aug 13, 2019 at Mills & Reeve: Health and Care Update
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Notification of deaths regulations: coming into force on 1 October 2019
This Regulation requires a registered medical practitioner to notify the relevant senior coroner of a death if one or more prescribed circumstances apply in England and Wales. What’s the context The provisions relating to the introduction of medical examiners and reforms of the death certification process were subject to a... Continue reading
Posted Aug 12, 2019 at Mills & Reeve: Health and Care Update
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Inquests: Be cautious when the police come knocking
A statement taken without a caution and without legal advice is admissible at trial if charges are subsequently brought. The decision of the Court of Appeal in the well-publicised case of the speedboat accident on the Thames serves as a salutary reminder to health and care professionals that a statement... Continue reading
Posted Aug 12, 2019 at Mills & Reeve: Health and Care Update
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