§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services (1) if he will recommend to health authorities that they make available a patient's hospital records to either the patient or a third party, if more appropriate, whenever there is a medical accident;
(2) if he will take steps to make available to the victims of medical accidents all the relevant information they request.
§ Mr. WhitneyCurrent guidance from the Department asks health authorities to be as helpful as possible when they are asked to release information voluntarily except where there is a good reason for withholding records either bearing on the defence of a claim or when the request is made without substantial justification. It is usual practice for case notes to be made available to the applicant's medical adviser, to ensure that they are correctly interpreted for the applicant's benefit.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what estimate he has of the number of medical accidents that occur annually according to (a) their severity and (b) the specialty of the consultant in charge of their case.
§ Mr. WhitneyInformation on which to base such an estimate is not collected centrally.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services if he has had, or intends to have, any discussions with the British Medical Association about establishing a no fault liability scheme for the victims of medical accidents.
§ Mr. WhitneyNo such discussions have been held or are in prospect.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what steps he takes to monitor the number of medical accidents in the National Health Service, and the procedure used by complainants.
§ Mr. WhitneyThe monitoring of medical accidents and complaints procedures are, in the first place, matters for health authorities whose aim must be to prevent recurrences. Health authorities are required to report to the Department any accidents due to defects in medicinal products, buildings and plant, equipment and medical and non-medical supplies to enable departmental advice on the problems revealed to be widely promulgated. Summaries of the reports of the Health Service Commissioner are also circulated to health authorities to ensure as far as possible that mistakes are not repeated.
The Department collects information on the number of written complaints received each year about the hospital and community health services and more detailed information about the clinical complaints procedure.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services approximately how many cases referred to the ombudsman in each of the last three years which had to be rejected by him because of clinical judgment are cases of medical accidents.
§ Mr. WhitneyThe information requested is not available.
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§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services what consideration he has given to the suggestion by the deputy Parliamentary Commissioner that there should be an independent body assessing cases alleged to be medical accidents with powers to pay compensation on a no fault basis.
§ Mr. WhitneyThis suggestion has not so far been referred to us for consideration.
§ Mr. Ashleyasked the Secretary of State for Social Services in how many cases of medical accidents in each of the last three years, regional medical officers have refused to take the cases to stage 3 of the procedure when requested to do so.
§ Mr. WhitneyInformation on the number of cases rejected for stage 3 of the clinical complaints procedure or withdrawn by the complainant was given in my reply to the right hon. Gentleman on 18 December 1985 at column233. Cases involving medical accidents cannot be separately identified.