Abstract
Several key issues in the clinical negligence (and general personal injury) field remained outstanding as these notes were written in late September:
Lord Young's review of the effects of the so-called ‘health and safety culture’ was due for imminent publication; The Ministry of Justice was consulting on elements of Lord Justice Jackson's review of civil costs; The NHS Litigation Authority, having successfully come through the new administration's Arms-Length Bodies Review, was having its functions assessed to ensure that they would be appropriate for, and relevant to, the ever-changing NHS in the future; Claimants’ lawyers had begun to lobby the Lord Chancellor to reduce the discount rate, following a very pro-claimant ruling by the Court of Appeal of Guernsey (which is not binding in England and Wales).
Change is, therefore, the order of the day, and it remains to be seen how the huge cuts to public spending, which will have been announced by the time these words are read, will impact upon all of these initiatives.