Clinical governance

Advice and support to NHS bodies on every aspect of delivery of the Clinical Governance agenda.

The introduction of Clinical Governance placed major responsibilities on NHS bodies. With its fundamental aim – the provision of responsive, consistent, high-quality and safe patient care – still paramount, Clinical Governance continues to require legal and administrative support on a wide variety of issues.

Weightmans has developed substantial expertise in this area, providing an extensive range of services and products to a broad NHS client base. Our status as a nationwide practice and our experience in handling claims across the wider NHS enable us to provide valuable advice and guidance.

As an NHS body, we can support you in meeting the Clinical Governance agenda through informed, practical advice in key areas such as patient safety initiatives and complaints procedures. We are experienced in handling negligence claims and health and safety prosecutions.  We can also help with the design, implementation and drafting of incident reporting systems, together with the requisite training to support and roll these out.

We provide board level briefings on issues such as the impact of achieving NHS Foundation hospital status and the liability of executive and non-executive directors.  We have also advised and assisted in the redrafting of key-constitutional documents to ensure NHS bodies comply with NHS-related and other legislation.

We are currently working closely with NHS clients on the problems encountered in dealing with hospital infections, and have advised boards in relation to the complex regulatory framework and other legal issues arising out of this sensitive, high-profile area.