Image © Tero Vesalainen
Government announces plan to scrap EU Vnuk motor insurance law
The EU Vnuk motor insurance law, covering vehicles used on private land like tractors, lawn mowers, mobility scooters, quad bikes, and off-road motorcycles, may be removed from British law.
The Government claims this will ensure British drivers will avoid £50 a year insurance hike, but accident prevention groups have condemned the decision.
"The Government’s decision not to adopt an EU rule that would ensure much-needed compensation for people injured by off-road vehicles is illogical and inexcusable," said Sam Elsby, president of the Association of Personal Injury Lawyer (APIL). "Brexit and the promise of insurance premium savings have been used as an excuse once again for dismissing the needs of injured people."
“Paying insurance premiums is both an incentive to drive safely, and a way to ensure injured people can receive proper compensation to help put their lives back on track.”
Transport Secretary, Grant Shapps, said in the announcement that “bypassing Vnuk will also protect the existence of the UK’s world-leading motorsports industry. The EU rules would have meant any motorsports collision involving vehicles from go- karting to F1 would have been treated as regular road traffic incidents requiring insurance. This could have decimated the industry due to the additional insurance costs of roughly £458 million every single year.”
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Coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines added to the Vaccine Damage Payments Act 1979
The VDPA 1979 provides for a single, tax-free payment of £120,000 to anyone who has suffered severe mental and/or physical disablement as a result of a vaccination against one or more specified diseases. From 31 December 2020, it will include coronavirus vaccinations, pursuant to the Vaccine Damage Payments (Specified Disease) Order 2020, SI 2020/1411. The vaccine damage payment scheme under the VDPA 1979 (VDPA scheme), is a state-financed, no-fault scheme, whose barriers to access are meeting the high threshold test of ‘severe disablement’. This means at least 60% disablement, and it has to be demonstrated through medical evidence from the sufferer’s treating clinicians. The applicant must also show that this disablement has been caused by the vaccination(s). Both the level of disablement and causation are decided on the balance of probabilities.
The vaccination which is the subject of the claim must have taken place in the UK or Isle of Man (unless it was part of armed forces medical treatment), and must have (i) occurred at a time of outbreak of a disease, in response to that disease, or (ii) prior to the individual’s 18th birthday, or (iii) in response to one of a handful of specified diseases. VDPA 1979, s 1(3) also enables claims to be made in respect of vaccines given to a claimant’s mother before they were born, as well as potentially in respect of individuals who acquired the disease from a person who was vaccinated against it. A claim on behalf of a child can only be made once the child reaches the age of two. Claims can also be made by the personal representatives of a deceased person, provided that, as per VDPA 1979, s1(1)(a), the deceased was severely disabled as a result of a relevant vaccination ‘immediately before his death’.
Read more: https://www.gov.uk/vaccine-damage-payment
UK maternity hospitals still failing to follow guidelines on Group B Strep (GBS)
The Group B Strep Support Group recently published their report highlighting that failure to follow national guidelines to prevent group B Strep infections in newborn babies is leading to opportunities to stop deadly infections being missed. They found a shocking nine out of ten hospitals in the UK are not using the recommended test for GBS carriage (costing about £11) despite clear guidance issued by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) and Public Health England (PHE) that the test can significantly decrease false-negative results.
GBS is the UK’s most common cause of severe infection in newborn babies, causing sepsis, pneumonia, and meningitis. Approximately 800 babies a year in the UK develop preventable GBS infection in their first 3 months of life, more than 100 of these babies will either die or be left with life-changing disabilities.
The report found that only a few NHS Trusts are following the key new recommendations around giving pregnant women information on group B Strep, offering testing to some pregnant women, and following PHE guidelines on testing for group B Strep.
The majority of Trusts could be leaving themselves open to expensive clinical negligence claim were a baby to develop GBS infection as a result.
Read more: https://gbss.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Preventing-Group-B-Strep-infections-in-babies-failure-to-turn-national-recommendations-into-local-guidelines.pdf
Cancer Research UK estimates 40,000 fewer people starting cancer treatment services during COVID-19
As well as the sustained disruption on cancer treatment that the pandemic caused throughout 2020, it has left a shortfall in cancer patients coming forward for diagnosis, with 40,000 fewer people starting cancer treatment across the UK last year, according to Cancer Research UK.
Numbers have recovered since the beginning of the pandemic, with urgent suspected cancer referrals rising through 2020, hitting pre-COVID-19 levels in England and Wales by Autumn. Numbers of urgent referrals for suspected lung cancer are still the most impacted, followed by suspected urological cancers – such as prostate and kidney cancer.
CRUK also monitored diagnostic tests for cancer and found a mixed picture. Endoscopies, CT scans, non- obstetric ultrasounds and MRI – can all give a picture of how cancer services are running and how many people are being referred into secondary care.
Endoscopy services have been particularly impacted by the pandemic, with around 600,000 fewer endoscopies performed in England between March and November and the number of endoscopies performed in November still not back to pre-pandemic levels.
Cancer surgery has been heavily impacted for a number of reasons, including intensive care capacity being used for Covid patients.
Other cancer treatments – radiotherapy or chemotherapy for example – have kept running throughout the second wave.
The Lancet Oncology journal recently predicted that delays in treatment and diagnosis of cancer since the start of the UK lockdown in March 2020 could lead to around 3,500 avoidable cancer deaths in England within the next five years. This is likely to lead to a surge inclinical negligence cases relating to delayed diagnosis and treatment of cancer in the years to come.
What is yet to be seen is whether the courts will allow such claims or whether the NHS will be able to successfully defend them by arguing that in order to deal with the COVID pandemic, many NHS resources had to be redirected which meant that it was reasonable for other services to suffer.
Read more: https://scienceblog.cancerresearchuk.org/2021/02/02/cancer-services-during-covid-19-40000-fewer-people-starting-treatment/
The Medico-Legal Conference – 24th June 2021, is on track to be a live event at The Congress Centre, 28 Great Russell St, Bloomsbury, London WC1B 3LS
Tickets are now available for both live and virtual attendees (both can be converted to either format as necessary nearer the time) get yourself an early bird deal!
Confirmed speakers include the Keynote Mr Justice Pepperall, High Court Judge, and Master of Ceremonies, Professor Dominic Regan, Civil Litigation expert.
Please visit the website for more details and to book: www.medicolegalconference.com
Please contact: craig.kelly@iconicmediasolutions.co.uk for further information if you are interested in sponsoring the programme or hosting a stand at the event.
Nadine Dorries, patient safety minister, makes statement on the Paterson Inquiry report
The independent inquiry report states that between 1997 and 2011 Paterson saw 6,617 patients of whom 4,077 underwent a surgical procedure in the independent sector, and between 1998 and 2011 he saw 4,424 patients at HEFT of whom 1,207 underwent mastectomy.
In the statement to Parliament in February, Nadine Dorries apologised to the harmed patients saying, “The report contains a shocking and sobering analysis of the circumstances surrounding Ian Paterson’s malpractice. It sets out the failure in the NHS, the independent sectorand the regulatory and indemnity systems. As a result of these failures, patients suffered unnecessary harm.”
A full response to the inquiry’s 15 recommendations will come later in 2021, but the minister responded to the following, which have or are currently being addressed:
Information to patients: clear and simple written information to patients will be improved;
Consent: the GMC published its revised good practice guidance on consent on 30 September 2020;
Multidisciplinary Team (MDT): specific questions relating to MDT are already included in appropriate CQC service frameworks; and
Patient Recall and Ongoing Care: University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust board and Spire have contacted several thousand potentially affected patients and have ensured they are getting the support and care that they needed.
Read more: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/nadine-dorries-statement-on-the-paterson-inquiry-report
New whiplash rules and tariffs to come into force from 31 May 2021
New draft statutory instruments published by the MoJ in February have indicated the tariff levels at which damages will be set for soft tissue injuries suffered in road traffic accidents (RTAs).
The total damages for pain, suffering and loss of amenity payable is limited to £240 for injuries lasting less than three months. There are then incremental increases for every extra three months that injuries continue, to a maximum of £4,215 for cases where injuries linger up to 24 months.
A limited fixed amount is added to the tariff to cover ‘minor’ psychological injuries suffered on the same occasion as the whiplash injury.
If a claimant suffers more than one whiplash injury through the same incident, the injury with the longest duration will apply.
The legislation allows for an uplift of up to 20% in ‘exceptional circumstances’, where a court may determine that damages should be greater than the tariff allows. In these cases, the court must be satisfied that the whiplash injury is ‘exceptionally severe’ or where the person’s circumstances increase the pain, suffering or loss of amenity.
The amendments to the Civil Procedure (Amendment No.2) Rules 2021, establishing how the new whiplash portal will work, confirm they come into force on 31 May 2021.
The portal will be designed to handle claims from unrepresented claimants, because the small claims limit is rising to £5,000, meaning that costs are no longer recoverable for claims below that figure.
Claimants must state in the claim form whether they expect to recover more or less than £5,000.
Claims involving children and protected parties are not to be allocated to the small claims track.
The new rules, which can be found in the link below, include provisions on obtaining a second medical expert report and claims which do not continue under the RTA small claims protocol.
Read more: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2021/196/contents/made
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