29/04/2022
Bevan Brittan provides high quality, comprehensive advice to the NHS, independent healthcare sector and local authorities. This update contains brief details of recent Government publications, legislation, cases and other developments relevant to those involved in health and social care work, both in the NHS, independent sector and local authorities which have been published in the last month.
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If someone forwarded you this email you can sign up for your own free monthly copy here delivered directly to your inbox.
Bevan Brittan Free Training Events
Clinical Risk Webinars
Bevan Brittan Clinical Risk/Health, Care and Regulatory Law Team Training - These are internal hour long lunch time training sessions. You can sign up to watch the training sessions remotely via our webinar facility. Please contact Claire Bentley.
Controlling and coercive behaviour. 3rd May 12.30pm Ella Garside (Senior Independent Domestic and Sexual Violence Advisor from Next Link Domestic Abuse Services) and Bethany Scarsbrook (St John’s Chambers) will look at understanding the impact of controlling and coercive behaviour and the practical and legal issues that arise from it.
How to form effective provider collaboratives in a reformed NHS. 4th May 10am. This webinar – jointly hosted by Bevan Brittan and Mutual Ventures – will help NHS leaders think through the challenges and opportunities of provider collaboratives.
Challenges to treatment limitation within critical care. 10th May 12.30pm. Dr Dominic Bell, a Consultant in Intensive Care and Anaesthesia will consider scenarios where consideration is given to treatment limitations and decision-making.
Mental Capacity Act; what do the consultation and draft Code of Practice say? 17th May 10am. In this webinar, we will review some of the key features of the draft Code of Practice to the Mental Capacity Act, considering the proposed changes and updates. We will consider some of the issues and themes of the Consultation which is due to close on 7 July 2022.
Please note that registration for each webinar will close when the webinar starts, so please do ensure you have booked your place in advance to guarantee attendance.
Acute and emergency care
Publications/guidance
Electronic patient record usability survey All clinicians working in acute settings are being invited to share their experiences of using the electronic patient record (EPR) system where they work.
News
Ambulance chief calls out acute trust over ‘lack of action’ on handover delays.
‘40,000 put at risk last month’ while waiting in ambulance.
If you wish to discuss any queries you may have around acute and emergency issues please contact Claire Bentley.
Children and young people
Publications/Guidance
Investigation into evaluating innovation in children's social care. The National Audit Office has decided that there is a good case for a wider investigation into the strengths of the Department for Education's funding and evaluation of innovation projects intended to help local authorities improve both outcomes for children and value for money.
Child death reviews: forms for reporting child deaths Forms to help child death overview panels (CDOPs) assess the causes of a child’s death as part of the child death review process.
The Special Educational Needs and Disabilities and Alternative Provision Green Paper. An overview of the Government's proposed integrated national SEND and alternative provision system, and some initial reaction.
Research into how local authorities are ensuring sufficient places and supporting vulnerable children A Department for Education report explores the roles and responsibilities of local authorities, schools, trusts and other partners within local education systems. It is set in the context of the growth of academies and looks at how local authorities: ensure there is a sufficient supply of high-quality school places; support vulnerable children; and fulfil their statutory duties to children with special educational needs and disabilities, from disadvantaged backgrounds, or who have been excluded.
National Benchmarking Survey of 0-5 Mental Health Services Across England NHS England and Improvement have commissioned the NHS Benchmarking Network to undertake a data collection focused on the provision of community-based mental health services in England specifically directed at children aged 0-5. The information provided as part of this project will help to build a comprehensive profile of 0-5 community-based mental health services, covering both NHS and non-NHS providers including local authorities and voluntary and community sector organisations.
The recruitment and retention of foster carers. Commons Library Debate Pack. Hidden waits: the lasting impact of the pandemic on children’s services in the community This briefing brings together new evidence about backlogs and increasing demand for children and young people's services. It also demonstrates what community providers are currently doing to meet demand, including how they are innovating, and makes a series of recommendations on the national support needed, both now and in the longer term.
Why do children go into children's homes? An Ofsted report, which draws on responses to surveys and discussions between inspectors and children placed in children's homes, staff and others to provide insights into the diverse and complex needs of children who go into children's homes, and the life experiences that led to them living there, calls for further research to be done, including a national audit of children needs, to provide better understanding of the experiences of children in care, and of the complexities of sufficiency in children's social care.
If you wish to discuss any queries you may have around children please contact Deborah Jeremiah or Ruth Shedlow
Bevan Brittan Updates
Children - which decision counts? Part One: Medical Treatment Decisions Hannah Taylor
A Predilection not a Presumption: Court of Appeal clarifies approach for determining serious medical treatment cases for capacitous young persons. Ruth Atkinson-Wilks
Clinical Risk / Patient Safety
Publications/Guidance
Learning from Emergency Medicine compensation claims. NHS Resolution has published a set of three reports which explore clinical issues that contribute to compensation claims within Emergency Departments.
Final findings, conclusions and essential actions from the Ockenden review of maternity services at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust This review of maternity services at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust independently assesses the quality of investigations relating to newborn, infant and maternal harm at the trust. This final report of the review covers the findings, conclusions and essential actions of this independent review. Based on a review of all family cases that formed part of this investigation, the final report outlines system-wide learnings and immediate and essential actions to improve maternity care.
Duty of candour animation offers guidance on the importance of being open and honest. NHS Resolution has produced a short animation to help those working in health and social care to better understand the similarities and differences that exist between the professional and statutory duties of candour. The 8-minute animation also offers guidance on how they can be fulfilled effectively.
Seven new GIRFT national specialty reports The Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) programme has shared seven new national reports with trusts and NHS stakeholders, helping clinical teams to improve services and supporting the wider elective recovery agenda.
Learning from medication errors. Medication errors are any Patient Safety Incidents (PSI) where there has been an error in the process of prescribing, preparing, dispensing, and administering, monitoring or providing advice on medicines. Medication errors can occur at many steps in patient care, from ordering the medication to the time when the patient is administered the drug.
NHS litigation reform This report by the Health and Social Care Committee finds the current system for compensating injured patients in England ‘not fit for purpose’ and urges a radically different system to be adopted. It describes how reforms would introduce an administrative scheme that would establish entitlement to compensation on the basis that correct procedures were not followed and the system failed to perform rather than clinical negligence, which relies on proving individual fault. The new system would prioritise learning from mistakes and would reduce costs.
Guidance on the application of the NHS Injury Cost Recovery scheme for 2022 to 2023. An updated Department of Health and Social Care publication, aimed at NHS trusts and NHS foundation trusts who provide treatment for injuries where costs are recoverable under the NHS Injury Cost Recovery (ICR) scheme, sets out the circumstances and processes for recovering costs, and provides guidance on how ICR payments should be recorded in annual accounts.
NHS injury costs recovery scheme: tariff and charges from 1 April 2022. Annual amendment in the tariff and ceiling of charges payable by compensators for the recovery of NHS charges under the NHS injury costs recovery scheme.
NHS injury costs recovery scheme. Information about the amount of money collected each month by the Compensation Recovery Unit and the funds paid to the NHS.
Department for Health and Social Care - Fixed recoverable costs in lower value clinical negligence claims: APIL response. Responding to the Department of Health and Social Care's (DHSC) consultation on fixed recoverable costs (FRC) for lower value clinical negligence claims, the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers (APIL) sets out its concerns including that: subjecting vulnerable injured patients, who lack the capacity to bring their own claims, to the proposed pared down process is unfair and inconsistent; protected parties are excluded from other low value schemes, such as for road traffic collisions and workplace injuries, because of the complexity of their cases; and that cases where patients have died at the hands of the NHS need more time and greater sensitivity than is afforded by the proposed scheme. APIL has also criticised the proposed limits on costs available to pay for representation for injured patients under the new system, and the ethos behind the changes.
ACSO responds to the DHSC consultation on fixed recoverable costs for lower value clinical negligence claims Responding to the Department of Health and Social Care's (DHSC) consultation on fixed recoverable costs (FRC) for lower value clinical negligence claims, the Association of Consumer Support Organisations (ACSO) has asserted that the cost of litigation and its impact on the financial stability of the NHS should be viewed in the context of sharp increases in its overall budget, which is likely to increase to over £160 billion in 2024 to 2025. The ACSO also notes that the implementation of the FRC proposals could result in the filtering service conducted by claimant law firms becoming unaffordable and, in turn, lead to an increase of unmeritorious claims from unskilled litigants in person.
Fixed costs will not work in clinical negligence cases, warns ACL. Responding to the Department of Health and Social Care consultation on its proposals to introduce fixed recoverable costs (FRC) and a new streamlined process in clinical negligence claims up to a value of £25,000 in England and Wales, the Association of Costs Lawyers states that FRC are not fit for purpose when it comes to low-value clinical negligence claims but introducing a streamlined pre-action "track" to deal with them will reduce costs anyway, and that the proposed new process should be introduced on its own without FRC.
Cancer services This report finds that the absence of a serious effort by government to tackle gaps in the cancer workforce is jeopardising earlier diagnosis, the key to improving overall survival rates and catching up with comparable countries. Evidence provided to the Committee by the government and the NHS demonstrates that the NHS was not on track to meet its target on early cancer diagnosis. Without progress, that would mean more than 340,000 people between 2019 and 2028 missing out on an early cancer diagnosis.
Consultation
Good medical practice: consultation. A General Medical Council (GMC) consultation seeks views on the updated version of its core guidance on professional standards, "Good medical practice" (GMP), which sets out the standards of care and professional behaviour expected of all medical professionals registered with the GMC. Comments by 20 July 2022.
Consultation on the UK COVID-19 Inquiry draft Terms of Reference: Submission from the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman. The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman's submission to the consultation on the COVID-19 public inquiry draft terms of reference. The draft aims to examine the UK's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and also identify the lessons learned from handling COVID-19 to inform the UK's preparedness for future pandemics.
News
Huge drop in midwives’ morale amid Ockenden fallout.
Pharmacogenomics to improve patient outcomes This report explains how a type of testing, known as pharmacogenomic testing, should be deployed across the NHS to ensure all patients have an equal chance of being prescribed a medicine at a dose that is likely to be safe and effective for them, with minimal side effects.
NHS Resolution Events for Membership
Following the successful NHS Resolution claims forums held back in 2020, NHS Resolution have organised another series of regional events for their membership. These events will provide members with an update on new developments and progress of our indemnity schemes. The events are aimed at legal services representatives at trusts, CCGs, ambulance trusts and independent hospitals involved in managing cases falling under our clinical and non-clinical indemnity schemes. These sessions are an opportunity to:
- Provide updates on the topics you submitted in our January 2022 email survey
- The work of our Technical Claims Unit (TCU)
- Opportunity to discuss local challenges faced in claims management
- The impact of COVID-19 on claims
- Share our refreshed direction of travel in claims management
- Share our refreshed strategic focus as an organisation
- Provide you with a regional overview of claims data
- Introduce you to members of our claims team.
As the event is invite only, details have been shared with the legal contact at member organisations. Member organisations can contact nhsr.communications@nhs.net for further information.
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Region |
Location |
Date |
Our website link |
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South East |
London |
Tuesday 14 June 2022 |
NHS Resolution South East Claims Forum (CNST and LTPS scheme members only) - NHS Resolution |
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East of England |
Chelmsford |
Thursday 16 June 2022 |
NHS Resolution East of England Claims Forum (CNST and LTPS scheme members only) - NHS Resolution |
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North West |
Liverpool |
Tuesday 21 June 2022 |
NHS Resolution North West Claims Forum (CNST and LTPS scheme members only) - NHS Resolution |
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South West |
Bristol |
Thursday 30 June 2022 |
NHS Resolution South West Claims Forum (CNST and LTPS scheme members only) - NHS Resolution |
|
Midlands |
Birmingham |
Wednesday 6 July 2022 |
NHS Resolution Midlands Claims Forum (CNST and LTPS scheme members only) - NHS Resolution |
|
London |
London |
Thursday 14 July 2022 |
NHS Resolution London Claims Forum (CNST and LTPS scheme members only) - NHS Resolution |
|
North East and Yorkshire |
Leeds |
Friday 15 July 2022 |
How we can help
We are working with clients on formulating policies and making it easier to balance treatment with finite resources. We are helping with social care policies and day to day activities such as contact and isolation, human rights issues and life/death decisions. We are working on notifications of harm and death, RIDDOR, CQC compliance, judicial review, infection control law and grappling with the new regulations and guidance. For more information click here. If you wish to discuss any clinical risk or patient safety issues please contact Joanne Easterbrook or Tim Hodgetts.
Digital Health
Publications/guidance
Data and research transformation in the NHS: what must be addressed? This report sets out the key issues that the NHS Confederation would like to see addressed in the Goldacre Review and data strategy, two key publications intended to modernise the health and care sector. It explores NHS leaders’ views on data infrastructure, data interoperability, data quality, data management, data access, and trust and transparency.
Better, broader, safer: using health data for research and analysis Professor Ben Goldacre was commissioned by the government in February 2021 to review how to improve safety and security in the use of health data for research and analysis. The report makes 185 recommendations that would benefit patients and the health care sector. It is aimed at policy-makers in the NHS and government, research funders and those who use the data for service planning, public health management and medical research.
Consultations
Evidence standards framework (ESF) for digital health technologies update - consultation. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence seeks views on an updated evidence standards framework for digital health technologies. It is also seeks views on an updated real-world evidence framework. Comments by 25 April and 29 April 2022 respectively. Revised versions are expected to be published by 30 May and 23 June 2022.
If you wish to discuss any queries you may have around Digital Health please contact Daniel Morris.
Employment/HR
Publications/guidance
Exclusions. NHS Resolution have published a suite of resources to support decision makers across the health system when they consider practitioner exclusion.
Commitment and growth: advancing mental health nursing now and for the future This report contains a range of recommendations to develop the mental health nursing workforce. It outlines eight system-wide recommendations addressing issues including career progression and encouraging nurses to remain in the profession. Each set of recommendations is broken down into action points for areas of work - analysing where and how changes can be made, to guide future policy.
Managing healthcare staff with symptoms of a respiratory infection or a positive Covid-19 test result This guidance is for staff and managers in health care settings and includes guidance for patient-facing health care staff if they develop symptoms of a respiratory infection including coronavirus (Covid-19), receive a positive Covid-19 test result, or are a contact of a confirmed case of Covid-19.
NHS Workforce Race Equality Standard: 2021 data analysis report for NHS trusts This year's report shows the number of BME staff at very senior manager level has almost doubled between 2020 to 2021 – up from 153 to 298. The analysis also shows the number of BME board members across all NHS trusts has increased by a quarter between 2020 and 2021, and is up by three quarters on 2018 when the data was first published. The survey also showed the NHS workforce is more diverse than at any point in NHS history, with more than 300,000 staff from a BME background – the equivalent of 22.4 per cent of all NHS staff. This is up from 18 per cent in 2017. However, despite this rise, BME staff remain underrepresented in senior positions – particularly in board executive roles. The survey also shows that 29 per cent of BME staff experienced bullying, harassment or abuse from patients last year – 3 per cent higher than white staff.
Latest COVID-19 guidance for our NHS people Details on how the latest COVID-19 guidance on home working, the COVID- 19 vaccine, self-isolation and COVID-19 testing impacts NHS staff.
Annual staff survey The annual NHS staff survey is a large-scale survey that explores the views of NHS staff on a range of different aspects based upon their lived experience of working within the NHS. This report summarises the key findings and what they mean for governors.
NHS Staff Survey 2021 Each autumn everyone who works in the NHS in England is invited to take part in the NHS Staff Survey. The survey offers a snapshot in time of how people experience their working lives, gathered at the same time each year. The results of the survey report of under-staffing and in the past year, nearly half of staff reported feeling unwell due to work-related stress. The survey also asked questions regarding the changes to working life due to the Covid-19 pandemic as well as diversity and inclusion in the workforce and other topics.
Vulnerabilities: applying All Our Health This guidance helps frontline health professionals, team leaders or managers, and senior or strategic leaders to prevent ill health and promote wellbeing as part of their everyday practice. It recommends important actions that managers and staff holding strategic roles can take.
News
Huge drop in midwives’ morale amid Ockenden fallout
Bevan Brittan Updates
How we can help
We can offer support and advice on managing many workforce issues including flexing your workforce to respond to the pandemic, managing bank staff, redeployment, vulnerable groups, sick pay, leave options, supporting staff well-being, presenteeism, remote and home working, through FAQs, helpline or policy guidance and practical day to day advice.
If you wish to discuss any employment issues generally please contact Jodie Sinclair, Alastair Currie or James Gutteridge.
Health Inequalities
Publications/Guidance
NCEPOD review of health inequalities The National Confidential Enquiry into Patient Outcome and Death (NCEPOD): review of health inequalities looked for evidence of inequalities in all NCEPOD reports.
If you wish to discuss any queries you may have around health inequalities please contact Claire Bentley.
Mental Health
Publications/guidance
Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019: Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS) Legislation and guidance on the Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS) and the latest information on progress towards their implementation.
Section 117 aftercare guidance. Joint Local Government and Social Care Ombudsman (LGSCO ) and Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) guidance to tackle common and repeated mistakes seen in the aftercare of patients receiving support under the Mental Health Act 1983 s.117. Through a series of case studies, the guidance draws attention to recurring mistakes seen in the joint investigation work of LGSCO and PHSO when there are misunderstandings between a council and Clinical Commissioning Groups about their collective responsibilities, including: care planning for patients; funding for aftercare; accommodation needs; and ending mental health aftercare. See ombudsman news
Mental health policy in England. This briefing provides an overview of mental health policy in England.
Shifting the Dial: evaluating a community programme to promote young Black men’s mental health Young Black men are overrepresented in restrictive mental health settings, but are less likely to get early community-based mental health support. This report shares learning from a three-year project to promote the mental health and wellbeing of young Black men in Birmingham. The project built upon the findings from CMH’s evaluation of an earlier pilot, Up My Street. Shifting the Dial has worked with more than 500 young Black men, offering peer support, mentoring, theatre productions, skills development and community events.
Five-year NHS autism research strategy for England This document sets out a five-year strategic plan for anyone with a personal or professional stake in improving health services for people with autism in England. This is a plan to improve the generation and use of high-quality evidence to improve the physical and mental health of people with autism.
National Benchmarking Survey of 0-5 Mental Health Services Across England NHS England and Improvement have commissioned the NHS Benchmarking Network to undertake a data collection focused on the provision of community-based mental health services in England specifically directed at children aged 0-5. The information provided as part of this project will help to build a comprehensive profile of 0-5 community-based mental health services, covering both NHS and non-NHS providers including local authorities and voluntary and community sector organisations.
Cases
NHS Liverpool CCG v X and Y [2022] EWCOP 17. Application concerning whether it is in the best interests of X, a 50 year old woman with severe epilepsy, to have the covid vaccine.
PH v Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board [2022] EWCOP 16. Judgment from the Vice President (following an ex tempore one) concerning the medical treatment of PH, who had been subject to physical restraint in order to take blood samples.
An NHS Trust v ST.[2022] EWHC 719 (Fam). The High Court refused to grant a declaration authorising the continuing deprivation of liberty of a 14-year-old girl with a diagnosis of Autistic Spectrum Disorder, moderate learning disability and challenging behaviours in a general paediatric hospital ward. Her current circumstances, involving her being subject to a regime that included regular physical restraint by multiple adults, the identity of whom changed day-to-day, were so antithetic to her best interests that it would be manifestly wrong to grant the relief sought.
Consultations
Mental health and wellbeing plan: discussion paper The government is developing a new cross-government, ten-year plan for mental health and wellbeing for England to improve mental health and wellbeing outcomes, particularly for people who experience worse outcomes than the general population. This discussion paper and call for evidence seeks views on how to: promote positive mental wellbeing; prevent the onset of mental ill health; intervene earlier when people need support with their mental health; improve the quality and effectiveness of treatment for mental health conditions; support people living with mental health conditions to live well; and improve support for people in crisis. The consultation closes at 11.45pm on 5 July 2022.
Bevan Brittan Events
Mental Capacity Act; what do the consultation and draft Code of Practice say? 17th May 10am. In this webinar, we will review some of the key features of the draft Code of Practice to the Mental Capacity Act, considering the proposed changes and updates. We will consider some of the issues and themes of the Consultation which is due to close on 7 July 2022.
How we can help
We are experts in advising commissioners, providers and care co-ordinators on the relevant legal frameworks. We deal with complex issues such as deprivation of liberty, state involvement, use of CCTV monitoring, seclusion, physical restraint and covert medication. We can help providers with queries about admission and detention, consent to treatment, forensic service users, transfers, leave, discharge planning and hearings. We can advise commissioners on all matters concerning commissioning responsibility, liability and disputes. For more information click here
If you wish to discuss any mental health issues facing your organisation please contact Simon Lindsay, Hannah Taylor,or Stuart Marchant.
Primary Care
Publications/guidance
NHS primary medical services directions These directions set out the legal framework under which general practitioners (GP) operate and are paid.
Bevan Brittan Videos
Bevan Brittan has collaborated with NHS Resolution to produce a series of videos outlining key areas in general practice that frequently give rise to claims. Members of our clinical negligence team draw on their wealth of experience in dealing with claims to highlight the common areas of risk, provide guidance on how to mitigate or avoid these issues, and what steps to take if a complaint or a claim is received. The first five videos in this series are available to watch now. See below:-
Consent - Daniel Morris
Medical record keeping - Ben Lambert
Administrative errors - Susan Trigg
What to do if you receive a complaint or claim - Joanne Easterbrook
Common pitfalls - Helen Carrington
Other useful resources from NHS Resolution for primary care are set out below:-
1. General Practice Indemnity schemes
2. Understanding the Clinical Negligence Scheme for General Practice
3. Handling claims under the Clinical Negligence Scheme for General Practice
4. Covid-19 guidance for general practice
How we can help
We can offer support and advice on managing contractual and operational issues affecting the delivery of primary care services, including emerging legislative changes, updated guidance and policy arrangements, workforce issues and any transactional – related matters relating to vertical integrations, STPs, PCNs, etc. For more information click here.
If you wish to discuss any issues in primary care then please contact Joanne Easterbrook, Susan Trigg, Vincent Buscemi or Ben Lambert.
Public Health
Publications/Guidance
Local government public health funding: putting the jigsaw together without the picture on the box Funding for local public health has been getting more complicated, making it harder for directors of public health to plan, and for those seeking to understand what is happening. In this new blog, David Buck, Senior Fellow, The King's Fund looks at the different pieces of the jigsaw.
Cancer services: Twelfth Report of Session 2021-22. A Health and Social Care Committee report on cancer services in England warns that an absence of serious effort by the Government to tackle gaps in the cancer workforce is jeopardising earlier diagnosis, the key to improving overall survival rates and catching up with comparable countries. In a critical report, the Committee raises the alarm on the damaging and continuing impact of the coronavirus pandemic and warns of a real risk that gains in cancer survival will reverse
If you wish to discuss any queries you may have around public health please contact Claire Bentley.
Regulation
Publications/Guidance
Health and Care Professions Council response to the DHSC's consultation Healthcare regulation: deciding when statutory regulation is appropriate. In response to a Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) consultation on the criteria used to make decisions on which health and social care professions should be regulated, the Health and Care Professions Council (HCPC) states that the risk of harm should be the most important factor when considering whether to regulate a health or care professional. It agrees that proportionality, targeted regulation and consistency should also be considered in the process. The HCPC notes that it would be ready to work with DHSC should the Government wish to develop processes for successfully bringing new professions into regulation.
If you wish to discuss any queries you may have around regulation please contact Stuart Marchant.
Social Care
Publications/Guidance
Adult Social Care and Immigration: A Report from the Migration Advisory Committee. A Migration Advisory Committee report on adult social care, and the impact that ending freedom of movement has had on the sector, focuses on three chapters: the size and nature of the social care workforce and details of how social care operates across each nation in the UK and the implications of this on issues including workforce strategies, funding, qualifications and registration, and data collection; details of the social care labour market; and the previous and current immigration policy for social care, how the sector interacts with the immigration system, and recommendations for changes.
Investigation into evaluating innovation in children's social care. The National Audit Office has decided that there is a good case for a wider investigation into the strengths of the Department for Education's funding and evaluation of innovation projects intended to help local authorities improve both outcomes for children and value for money.
Proposed reforms to adult social care (including cap on care costs). This briefing provides information on the Government's proposals for adult social care reform, including the cap on care costs.
Infection prevention and control: resource for adult social care This document sets out general infection prevention and control principles to be used in combination with guidance on managing specific infections. It is for people responsible for setting and maintaining standards of infection prevention and control within adult social care in England, such as care managers. A Covid-19 supplement has been published alongside this guidance. The guidance applies from 4 April 2022.
Cases
R. (on the application of Gardner) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care. [2022] EWHC 967 (Admin) Two Guidance documents issued by the Secretary of State for Health and Social care and Public Health England during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic concerning the discharge of hospital patients into care homes were unlawful. The policy set out in each of the documents was irrational in failing to advise that where an asymptomatic patient (other than one who had tested negative) was admitted to a care home, they should, so far as practicable, be kept apart from other residents for 14 days.
News
Covid: Discharging hospital patients to care homes 'unlawful'
How we can help
For ways in which we can help with Social Care issues click here.
If you wish to discuss any queries you may have around social care please contact Siwan Griffiths.
General
Publications/Guidance
Provider collaboratives: explaining their role in system working. This explainer looks at provider collaboratives in England, the opportunities they provide and the unresolved questions to consider when thinking about their role in the changing health and care landscape.
Universal Periodic Review of Great Britain. An Equality and Human Rights Commission report sets out what has been done to protect human rights in Great Britain since its last report in 2017. It covers 11 different areas of life, including: health; education; work; and justice, liberty and personal security. It also gives recommendations to the UK and Welsh Governments on how to better protect human rights and fulfil their international obligations.
Hospital discharge and community support guidance This document sets out how health and care systems can ensure that people are discharged safely from hospital to the most appropriate place and continue to receive the care and support they need after they leave hospital.
Do No Harm: Mitigating Human Rights Risks when Interacting with International Medical Institutions and Professionals in Transplantation Medicine. A report from international human rights law firm Global Rights Compliance outlines the legal risks of collaborating with transplantation professionals in countries where it is reported that high levels of organ trafficking and unethical organ transplantation are taking place. It urges caution when entering or maintaining relationships with institutions in India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Lebanon and Egypt, and particularly China, as it "entails the highest risk of complicity in international crimes".
Inquiry into women’s health and well-being in prisons APPG on Women in the Penal System Inquiry into women's health and well-being in prisons.
Bevan Brittan Publications
If you would like to sign up for any of our Bevan Brittan publications click here.
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