Law Firm And NHSLA Unite For 'Unique’ Conference

National law firm Irwin Mitchell has joined with the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA) to hold a 'unique' one-day conference, aimed at highlighting the importance of learning lessons and raising standards in medical care to improve patient safety.

Set to take place at the International Convention Centre in Birmingham on Wednesday 23rd March, the "Learning from Mistakes" event is aimed at senior clinicians, health trust directors, claims managers and risk managers and will consider the way in which patient safety can improve if the lessons learnt from mistakes are understood and absorbed into the clinical culture. 

David Body, the national head of Irwin Mitchell’s Medical Law team which specialises in cases of clinical negligence, is co-chairing this event with Professor Dame Joan Higgins the Chair of the NHSLA.

David said: “Patient safety is the paramount concern for all medical lawyers whether they represent Claimants or Defendant Trusts.  I think that the more emphasis there is on learning lessons where clinical mistakes have occurred, it will further benefit the clinical culture for patients and all of those who treat them.

“Irwin Mitchell deals with the NHSLA on a day to day basis where claims are litigated.   This conference is an opportunity to demonstrate that as far as patient safety is concerned there is no dispute between ourselves and the NHSLA – the safety of patients is and always should be the paramount consideration.

"We are delighted to be co-presenting this event with the NHSLA."

The key issues set to be considered on the day include:

• The way lawyers assess what doctors do
• Setting standards
• How can you learn from the litigation process?
• The effect of learning lessons
• Real-life case studies and examples of best practice

Joan said: "The NHSLA is very pleased to be collaborating with Irwin Mitchell in delivering this ground breaking conference.  The NHSLA has always advocated the importance of good risk management practices in the NHS to ensure patient safety. We support the provision of safe NHS care through our programme of standard setting and assessments and we work with our solicitors to help NHS Trusts learn from failure.  We know that Irwin Mitchell share our goals and we are pleased to have the opportunity to demonstrate our mutual commitment to improving patient safety through this conference."