Cerebral palsy covers a wide range of disorders that impact a person’s ability to move, maintain balance and posture, often also impacting on cognitive ability. It can be caused by an injury to a baby’s brain before, during or shortly after birth.
For any family with a child diagnosed as having cerebral palsy, receiving early information and guidance can make a real difference to navigating the child’s needs and securing appropriate input and support.
All too often, the NHS is criticised for its failings, and maternity care has remained a real focus of concern. Parents have been frustrated by bureaucratic responses to complaints and lengthy delays to investigations of potential legal claims, but it’s right to appreciate that steps have been taken to improve maternity care and in particular, to better address and expedite investigation when it is appropriate to do so.
The Maternity and Newborn Safety Investigations team (“MNSI”) undertakes independent patient safety investigations across the NHS. One of its roles in maternity care has been to investigate adverse incidents, such as those where babies may have suffered injuries that could lead to lifelong disability, such as cerebral palsy, and to identify how best to avoid similar events occurring again. The MNSI doesn’t attribute blame but seeks to recommend improvements to reach better outcomes.
The Early Notification Scheme (“ENS”) has been introduced by NHS Resolution, which oversees medical negligence claims brought against the NHS, to help streamline the process faced by families pursuing compensation claims for birth injury, such as cerebral palsy. Rather than waiting for a family to identify concerns and instruct their own lawyers to investigate a potential claim before investigating and responding to this, the ENS is designed to identify, at an early stage, potential claims where there may have been significant brain injury as a result of adverse management, and to proactively investigate liability. This can help lead to an early admission, and in appropriate cases, a potential resolution of a claim for negligence more swiftly than would otherwise have been the case.
Moore Barlow have been instructed on a number of cases which have fallen within the ENS as families are still entitled to seek their own independent advice to help guide them through this process alongside the option of proceeding with traditional litigation where this may be more appropriate or necessary to secure an admission of liability. Resolving such claims remains challenging and subject to expert medical and other opinions on a child’s prognosis and future care needs which cannot always be accurately assessed in their early years.
How Moore Barlow can help
The Moore Barlow Medical negligence solicitors work with families affected by cerebral palsy caused by negligent NHS management. We can offer Legal Aid to investigate a potential claim and have particular expertise in securing admissions of liability and significant compensation awards for affected clients.
We are happy to discuss any concerns and offer a free no obligation enquiry service if you feel you would like to speak to a solicitor about a potential claim.
