In recognition of the success of its claims mediation service, NHS Resolution has recently been shortlisted for a Mediation Innovation Award at the National Mediation Awards.
In recognition of the success of its claims mediation service, NHS Resolution has recently been shortlisted for a Mediation Innovation Award at the National Mediation Awards. Reflecting on how NHS Resolution is improving the role of safety and learning in resolving claims, we look back at how mediation has developed its aim of achieving early and fair resolution as well as providing some top tips for mediation attendance.
Delivering fair resolution and learning from harm was the headline for NHS Resolution’s 5-year strategic plan published in 2017 and in February this year NHS Resolution published “Mediation in healthcare claims – an evaluation”. This report evaluated over 600 mediations which had taken place since the inception of NHS Resolution’s claims mediation service in December 2016. The report found that:
During our recent Shared Insights session on The Benefits of Mediation for Trusts, Julienne Vernon, Head of Dispute Resolution and Quality at NHS Resolution, explained that over 1,000 claims have now been mediated under NHS Resolution’s claims mediation service, which operates under a fixed costs model, keeping costs in check and preserving valuable resources for frontline patient care.
A key finding of NHS Resolution’s report Behavioural insights into patient motivation to make a claim for clinical negligence published in October 2018 was that patients who bring a clinical negligence claim do not want the same thing to happen to someone else. In recognition of that, Bev Hunt, NHS Resolution’s Safety and Learning Lead (Mediation) is currently looking to increase the involvement of safety and learning representation and promote attendance of Trusts at mediations with both legal and clinical representatives to explain what went wrong and why, and to give a meaningful apology.
With this in mind, we set out some ‘top tips’ for attending mediations from those in the know:
From our own experience at Browne Jacobson LLP, there needs to be a shift in mindset for mediation to work effectively. Mediations are not a litigious process and the best mediations are those where both parties come away feeling as if they have been listened to, have been treated fairly and are able to move forwards. We have experienced great examples of this including:
Finally, what Covid-19 has taught us is that there’s no longer a need for parties to spend hours travelling to sit in solicitors’ offices to attend settlement meetings and mediations. Remote mediations by Zoom, Skype, MS Teams and other platforms are the new normal and should allow Claimants to feel at ease in their own homes and allow attendance from busy professionals and clinicians for just the key part of the session.
Should you have any mediation related queries or if you would like to discuss how we can help you with mediating disputes, please contact Kelly Buckley.
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