Manchester
ed.pollard@brownejacobson.com
+44 (0)330 045 2107
Ed heads up the Manchester office Health Advisory and Inquest team. He is regarded as a national leader in coronial law, the Mental Capacity Act and the Mental Health Act. His down-to-earth, pragmatic approach is highly valued by clients, leading to frequent descriptions of him and the team as being an extension of clients’ own in-house provision.
Ed’s entire career has been devoted to assisting the healthcare market with him representing NHS Trusts, Integrated Care Boards, national commissioning bodies, local authorities, private healthcare organisations and individual medical practitioners.
Ed has vast experience in complex mental capacity issues at both the Court of Protection and under the Inherent Jurisdiction of the High Court, undertakes inquests nationwide to include advocacy in both Article 2 and jury inquests, assists organisations with Mental Health Act matters including representation at Tribunals, supports health individuals/organisations at national inquiries (Hillsborough, Redfern, Manchester Arena) and advises on all aspects of patient-facing issues. Ed frequently leads on complex, reported cases, recent examples being: Re KM [2021] EWCOP 42 and Re BN [2022] EWHC 663 (Fam).
His client care is central to everything he does, and Ed consistently supports healthcare organisations to ensure quality governance is maintained, and improved, which has a marked contribution to the overall reputation of the organisation with national regulators.
Wigan BC v Y (Refusal to Authorise Deprivation of Liberty) [2021] EWHC 1982 (Fam) (14 July 2021) concerning the deprivation of liberty of a 12-year-old child with mental health issues
Re BN [2022] EWHC 663 (Fam) – concerning declaration of death in an adult (first reported case of its kind)
Represented a national healthcare organisation following a death from eating disorder. Dealt with complex issues of mental health and interplay with acute healthcare. Multiple regional and national organisations involved.
Represented an NHS Trust in proceedings which included MHA issues, deprivation of liberty allegations, human trafficking and modern slavery.
"Ed is calm, considered, and confident whilst always providing a reasoned and balanced view of cases. He always puts the client's needs first."
"Ed provides clear, concise and practical advice and has supported the Trust with some complex matters where his expertise has been invaluable. Ed is responsible and reliable and very safe pair of hands and this approach is reflected in his team too."
In this session, our speakers discussed fundamentals of disclosure, general points on disclosure & Post-Pandemic, interested Persons & Patient Safety Incident Response, and how we can help & Takeaway Tips.
The Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS) were introduced in the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019 and will replace the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) system. The LPS framework aims to deliver improved outcomes for people who are or who need to be deprived of their liberty.
We were very pleased to recently advise North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust (‘NWAFT’) in High Court, Inherent Jurisdiction proceedings regarding an application for a declaration by the court that a patient of NWAFT had sadly died and therefore it was proper for life supporting measures to be ceased.
What to expect at Court: Family Court and Care Proceedings. Care Proceedings concern the welfare of a child. If a Local Authority believes that a child is at risk of significant harm, they can seek permission from the Court to take appropriate action to protect the child.
We were delighted to be joined by Dr Nigel Sturrock, Regional Medical Director for the Midlands at NHS England and NHS Improvement. He gave an overview of the pressures placed on the NHS by the pandemic, including the impact on urgent and emergency care, elective procedures and staffing.
Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board [2015], the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, patients who lack capacity to make a particular decision and data on consent claims.
In September 2020, for the first time the CQC successfully prosecuted an NHS Trust for breaching the Duty of Candour. It is important for all NHS organisations to take heed of this prosecution and review the approach that is being taken in your organisation to candour.
The second victim and supporting clinicians through investigations, complaints, claims and inquests.
Following concerns being raised nationally about the impact of the pandemic on certain aspects of assessing and treating patients detained under the Mental Health Act 1983, “Legal guidance for mental health, learning disability and autism, and specialised commissioning services supporting people of all ages during the coronavirus pandemic” was published on 19 May 2020.
The role of digital tools and how they can be used to help inform and educate patients about their medical condition and treatment options, saving valuable time.
We have received a number of queries from our health and social care organisational clients regarding specific rights of social and healthcare patients they are treating and caring for during the COVID-19 Pandemic. We therefore thought it would be of assistance to provide another free webinar exploring these issues and answering commonly raised questions.
We recognise that COVID19 has presented a huge array of challenges to our healthcare clients. Therefore, we are hosting a webinar to address the legal and practical implications of the Coronavirus Act 2020 and the associated issues the pandemic has presented.