Doctors advised to be cautious when asked to declare patients’ fit to run marathons

Some GP surgeries may be experiencing temporary problems accessing information on their computers following Friday’s cyber-attack.

Three quarters of the public (75 per cent) want Government to do more to reduce the amount of money lawyers are able to claim from the NHS in legal costs following clinical negligence cases, according to a YouGov survey.

Opportunity to deliver greater savings to NHS through legal fee capping scheme should not be wasted

Dr Pallavi Bradshaw, Senior Medicolegal Adviser at the Medical Protection Society, said: “This is a positive step - the NHS paid out £1.5bn in clinical negligence costs in 2015/16, with legal costs accounting for 34 percent of that bill. In lower value claims it is not unusual to see lawyers' costs exceed the compensation awarded to claimants."

Emma Hallinan, MPS Director of Claims Policy and Technical, said: “The NHS’s provision for clinical negligence claims has increased dramatically in recent years, so a fresh and more preventative approach to managing claims is timely, and will hopefully reduce the number of costly court cases."

A YouGov survey of over 2,000 British adults has found that three of the top five reasons for having made a complaint about a GP, relate to poor communication and behaviour.

The Medical Protection Society (MPS) welcomes the opportunity to respond to the General Medical Council’s (GMC) survey on its Consent guidance.

Doctors’ concerns about the implications of apologising to patients when things go wrong appear to be easing, according to research published by a leading medical protection organisation.

The GMC is right to acknowledge the 'state of unease in the profession’- patient expectations are changing and GPs are more likely to be sued now than ever before. It is important to strike a balance between holding doctors to account and reducing unnecessary pressures.