Why ARAG Backs the Call to ‘Do No Harm’

ARAG explores the importance of protecting access to justice for victims of clinical negligence, highlighting the work of the Do No Harm campaign and concerns that proposed reforms could disproportionately affect vulnerable patients.

Why improving patient safety, not restricting access to justice, is key to tackling the true cost of clinical negligence.

In an age where Legal Aid has all but disappeared for victims of clinical negligence ARAG’s social impact report, Insuring Justice, launched at the House of Commons in June, was designed to shine a spotlight on the importance of access to justice in an equitable society. Barriers to justice are often barriers to social mobility and can have far-reaching economic implications.

Our mission to extend access to justice is broad, but we also have a specific interest in enabling individuals who have been harmed by medical malpractice to seek redress. This is rarely more serious or tragic than in the case of the numerous maternity failures that have come to light in recent decades.

For that reason, we support Julie Grayston and her team at ‘Do No Harm’, which launched in 2024 to warn the incoming government not to go down a route such as FRC (Fixed Recoverable Costs) which could limit access to lawyers and dedicated advice for cases below £25,000.

The cases of babies who are stillborn or die soon after their birth are often valued below the £25,000 limit. Similarly, vulnerable elderly or disabled patients with complex needs who are harmed might also be denied legal representation.

Julie, who established her own firm, Graystons in 2000, has brought together victims, medics and other legal professionals to warn against such moves originally proposed by Sir Jeremy Hunt when he was Health Secretary, back in 2015.

“He blamed lawyers and accused them of being ambulance chasers”, recalls Julie; “Then, just a few weeks ago, he tells James Naughtie on BBC Radio Four that the ‘real problem are the targets within the NHS.”

He said, "My plan was to hit all these targets and then get rid of them... some of the inhumanity that we are hearing in the Ockenden Report and the Amos Review and so on, is connected to the fact that for a hospital, what they are trying to does churn through patients as quickly as possible, and I think it’s wrong’.

Julie concluded. “He’s right now, especially as he also said that running a hospital today is one of the most difficult jobs in the country. He regrets the infrastructure he left in place. It’s a shame it has taken so many disasters to finally conclude the system is failing thousands and thousands of victims. Andy Burnham must now put that right, and quickly if we are to save lives”.

Importantly, the impact on access to justice would most affect the poorest and more vulnerable victims of clinical injury. As the Do No Harm campaign points out, the way in which injury claims are valued means that the economically disadvantaged would be disproportionally affected.

Time and again the same issues have been shown to have contributed to failings: Shortages of both equipment and staff, inadequate training, cultures of secrecy, denial and bullying all cited in successive reports, dating back decades.

The real risks and costs of clinical negligence

As well as being grossly unfair, the proposed reforms would not impact the problem they are trying to address.

The huge financial burden that such negligence puts on the NHS will only ever be reduced by improvements in care. Proposals to limit access to justice would not just disproportionately affect poorer victims, they would diminish one of the checks that currently serves to alert the NHS about clinical negligence.

Do No Harm is an important campaign with a vital purpose. Policymakers should be alerted to the fact that the only realistic path to reducing the public cost of clinical negligence claims is to increase patient safety and reduce the incidence of medical malpractice.

David Lock KC has been appointed by the government to provide expert advice on the legal costs of clinical negligence and improving patients’ experience of making a clinical negligence claim.

The NHS has been accused of cover-ups and silence. All hope that the Lock Report will not be another disappointment.

Disclaimer: all information in this article was correct at time of publishing.

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