The fallout from the Mid Staffordshire enquiry continues in the medical press with pressure mounting on the GMC and the Nursing and Midwifery Council to explain why so few doctors and nurses have faced disciplinary action as a result of failures leading to deaths within the Trust.
The report by Robert Francis QC available at http://www.midstaffsinquiry.com/, a lawyer with a background in clinical negligence litigation, has called for a legal duty of candour on the part of NHS Trusts to explain to patients what went wrong and to settle compensation claims early.
With the litigation bill to the NHS last year reaching a record £1.28bn, a more proactive system of compensating victims of medical accidents, such as that in operation in New Zealand may well be the way forward.
