The Health Service Ombudsman has recently reported that the NHS is failing to meet even the most basic standards of care for older people. The Ombudsman found that some elderly patients had suffered unnecessary pain, indignity and distress whilst in hospital.
Complaints had been made in relation to patients being left unattended, receiving inadequate medication or pain relief, emergency buzzers being placed out of patients reach and patients being left unwashed, malnourished and dehydrated.
Many of these vulnerable patients might currently be eligible for legal aid to pursue claims for compensation for negligent treatment. However the government is currently considering proposals to withdraw legal aid for clinical negligence cases. Negligence claims often highlight the inadequacies of hospital care by bringing problems to the attention of the NHS management which has in the past resulted in negligent practices being abandoned and replaced with much better ones. If government support is withdrawn for clinical negligence claims many patients may be denied any access to justice. This begs the worrying question of whether if the prospect of these claims is effectively removed standards of care provided to patients by the medical profession will decline still further.
Amey Welch, Legal Assistant, Clinical Negligence
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