Those who have suffered injury as a result of a failure to receive the correct medical treatment will welcome the Harmed Patient Pathway which encompasses commitments put forward by Action Against Medical Accidents and the Harmed Patients Alliance. The proposed Pathway provides guidance to NHS staff when faced with a patient who has been harmed when under their care.
The Pathway stands on 6 commitments as follows:
- Compassionate and honest communications with the patient and their families
- Ensuring support is given to the patient/their families including access to specialist independent advice.
- Involving the patient/their families in the investigations or review processes related to their treatment
- Providing an opportunity for the patient/their families to contribute to safety improvements and patient experiences in a meaningful way.
- The patient/their families can still choose a separate independent process to seek the answers or changes they need and want to see
- The culture is both just and restorative and supportive of the staff involved to ensure fairness.
Some of these commitments are not new. For example, the duty of candour became a legal requirement in 2014. This means that there is already a legal obligation for those treating patients to be open and transparent at all times. It is not clear how the first commitment takes this any further.
The second commitment is new as the onus is on the NHS to ‘do their best to ensure’ the patient gets the support they need. It is not clear how this will work. This will not just be legal advice but presumably emotional and psychological support too. Most patient safety incidents are not negligent and data analysis for APIL (Association of Personal Injury Lawyers) has revealed only 2% of incidents where a patient has been harmed result in a clinical negligence claim.
The more information a patient and their families receive, the better the outcome and ensuring that support is given to navigate the fall out from poor treatment, would help each patient recover fully.
The third and fourth commitments to involve in the NHS investigations and their processes should, again, be ongoing now in every clinical setting. A patient’s input into what went wrong can be invaluable. Feedback as to how they felt and where improvements might be made, would ensure the patient is kept at the centre.
Involvement of the patient in patient safety and patient experiences echoes this. Many of the enquiries we receive start with the patient saying they don’t want anyone else to suffer as they have and asking how they can help effect change within the NHS. Full and active engagement by the healthcare provider with the patient will reassure they have been heard and their concerns have been acted upon.
This doesn’t mean the patient is barred from using outside agencies to help in their quest for change. Commitment 5 recognises patients need independent advice and particularly legal advice. The Pathway makes clear however that any independent advice or investigation will not allow or interfere with their processes, which has to be the correct stance.
Finally, commitment 6 to promote a ‘just and restorative culture’ to encourage staff to be open is the foundation of the earlier commitments. Without this, nothing will change. Staff must feel they can speak freely and honestly with no threat of reprisal for doing so.
Whilst the Harmed Patient Pathway highlights several key points related to the importance of independent legal advice for victims of clinical negligence, as well as the broader efforts aimed at improving patient safety, the concern remains that the Pathway is only as strong as those who implement it. Provided all healthcare bodies are truly committed to ensuring the plan is enforced and followed correctly, this may see a turning point for those who have been poorly treated.
The information provided in this article is provided for general information purposes only, and does not provide definitive advice. It does not amount to legal or other professional advice and so you should not rely on any information contained here as if it were such advice.
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The information published across our Knowledge Base is correct at the time of going to press.
