Reviews / 2018
Gross negligence manslaughter in healthcare
Professor Sir Norman Williams · work from 2018 · published 2018
What this was
Rapid review of how gross negligence manslaughter is applied to healthcare, after concern that prosecutions and regulatory referrals were making clinicians afraid to be open.
Why it sits in the hub
It sits between Berwick's defence of a just culture and Thirlwall's warning that avoiding blame had protected people who should have been challenged. Both can be true, and boards have to tell them apart.
Findings
Finding 1
Families and clinicians experienced the criminal and regulatory route as inconsistent and slow.
Recommendations in this hub
Paraphrase of the public recommendations, not the official text.
- 1Partly doneGovernment
Improve the quality of expert advice to coroners and prosecutors in healthcare cases.
- 2Not publicly clearRegulators and employers
Separate a just approach to error from the need to act on conduct that endangers patients.