Central Legal Office Expenses for litigation defence of Health Boards

The request was successful.

Dear NHS National Services Scotland,

If an employee and /or a health board are sued by a patient and NHS Central Legal Office defend the claim on behalf of the health board / employee:

1. At the end of each case does NHS CLO calculate the cost of providing legal representation to the health board / board employee in each case?

2. At the end of each case are NHS CLO able to calculate the cost of providing legal representation to the health board / board employee in each case, if requested to do so?

3. Who is responsible for these costs of legal representation? Do the health board / health board employee or the NHS pay the costs for NHS CLO's services in each case where it's health boards or health boards' employees they have defended?

4. When CLO have their own solicitor advocates, does NHS CLO or the NHS also pay for external legal representation such as private legal firm's advocates being used to defend cases involving health boards ?

5. In years 2017 to 2019 in how many claims - by individual year- has involved the use of private firm advocates in claims defended by NHS CLO when the claim value has been £5000 or less?

Yours faithfully,

COLIN WHITE

Communications (NHS NATIONAL SERVICES SCOTLAND),

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FOI (NHS NATIONAL SERVICES SCOTLAND),

Dear Mr White

 

Freedom of Information Reference:  2019-000218

 

I refer to your freedom of information request which we received on 05
June 2019, requesting the following information:

 

“If an employee and /or a health board are sued by a patient and NHS
Central Legal Office defend the claim on behalf of the health board /
employee:

 

1. At the end of each case does NHS CLO calculate the cost of providing
legal representation to the health board / board employee in each case?

 

2.  At the end of each case are NHS CLO able to calculate the cost of
providing legal representation to the health board / board employee in
each case,  if requested to do so?

 

3. Who is responsible for these costs of legal representation?  Do the
health board / health board employee or the NHS pay the costs for NHS
CLO's services in each case where it's health boards or health boards'
employees they have defended?

 

4. When CLO have their own solicitor advocates, does NHS CLO or the NHS
also pay for  external legal representation such as  private legal firm's
advocates being used to defend cases involving health boards ?

 

5. In years 2017 to 2019 in how many claims - by individual year- has
involved the use of private firm advocates in claims defended by NHS CLO
when the claim value has been £5000 or less?”

 

I confirm that under the terms of the Freedom of Information (Scotland)
Act 2002, a response to your information request will be sent within 20
working days of receipt, i.e. no later than 03 July 2019

 

 

Kind regards

 

 

 

David Beattie

Business Systems Administrator

Strategy, Performance and Service Transformation

 

NHS National Services Scotland

Area 003

Gyle Square

1 South Gyle Crescent

[1]E: [email address]

 

Please consider the environment before printing this email.

 

NHS National Services Scotland is the common name for the Common Services
Agency for the Scottish Health Service. [2]www.nhsnss.org
<[3]http://www.nhsnss.org/>

 

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ATTERBURY, Joy (NHS NATIONAL SERVICES SCOTLAND),

Dear Mr White,

I refer to  your recent FOI request in which you ask:

 

If an employee and /or a health board are sued by a patient and NHS
Central Legal Office defend the claim on behalf of the health board /
employee:

 

1. At the end of each case does NHS CLO calculate the cost of providing
legal representation to the health board / board employee in each case?

 

2.  At the end of each case are NHS CLO able to calculate the cost of
providing legal representation to the health board / board employee in
each case,  if requested to do so?

 

3. Who is responsible for these costs of legal representation?  Do the
health board / health board employee or the NHS pay the costs for NHS
CLO's services in each case where it's health boards or health boards'
employees they have defended?

 

4. When CLO have their own solicitor advocates, does NHS CLO or the NHS
also pay for  external legal representation such as  private legal firm's
advocates being used to defend cases involving health boards ?

 

5. In years 2017 to 2019 in how many claims - by individual year- has
involved the use of private firm advocates in claims defended by NHS CLO
when the claim value has been £5000 or less?

 

I can advise as follows:

 

CLO acts on behalf of the Scottish Health Boards in defending claims of
clinical negligence brought against them by patients. Usually the Health
Board is the defender on the basis that it is vicariously liable for the
acts/omissions of its employees in the course of their employment. It is
unusual for an clinician to be sued as an individual in respect of their
alleged negligence while working as an employee of a Health Board.

In respect of your specific questions:

 

1.       Yes

2.       Yes

3.       The Health Board

4.       In Scotland, advocates and Q.C.s are independent practitioners
working under the umbrella of The Faculty of Advocates. CLO instructs
advocates/Q.Cs in appropriate cases. For example in the Court of Session
solicitors have no rights of audience.

 

 

5. In years 2017 to 2019 in how many Note that Advocate costs per claim
claims - by individual year- has may cross over different calendar
involved the use of private firm years in that claims counted in
advocates in claims defended by NHS period Jan to Dec 2017 may also be
CLO when the claim value has been counted in the following years 2018
£5000 or less? and 2019.  Therefore, have also
provided figures for the entire
period 1 Jan 2017 to 31 Mar 2019
1 Jan 2017 - 31 Dec 2017 The number of claims settled for a
figure of £5,000 or less was 31.
Of these number where the sum sued
for was £5000 or less was 1.
1 Jan 2018 - 31 Dec 2018 The number of claims settled for a
figure of £5,000 or less was 33.
Of these number where the sum sued
for was £5000 or less was 1.
1 Jan 2019 - 31 Mar 2019 The number of claims settled for a
figure of £5,000 or less was 11.
Of these number where the sum sued
for was £5000 or less was 1.
1 Jan 2017 - 31 Mar 2019 The number of claims settled for a
figure of £5,000 or less was 51.
Of these number where the sum sued
  for was £5000 or less was 2.

 

 

I hope this is of assistance however if I can help further please do not
hesitate to contact me.

If you are unhappy about any aspect of how this matter has been dealt
with ​you can ask us to review the handling of your request by writing to
the Head of Corporate Affairs, NHS National Services Scotland,
Headquarters, Gyle Square, 1 South Gyle Crescent, Edinburgh, EH12 9EB
within 40 working days of the date of this email. You also have the right
to apply to the Scottish Information Commissioner at Kinburn
Castle, Doubledykes Road, St Andrews, Fife, KY16 9DS. The
Commissioner does not take up all cases he receives, and will decide
whether or not to look into your concerns further. 

Yours sincerely,

Joy Atterbury

Head of Litigation

Accredited Specialist in Medical Negligence Law

 

CentralLegalOffice | Anderson House | Breadalbane Street | Edinburgh | EH6
5JR

 

Tel: 0131 275 7820

[1]www.clo.scot.nhs.uk

Please consider the environment before printing this email.

NHS National Services Scotland is the common name for the Common Services
Agency for the Scottish Health Service. [2]www.nhsnss.org

 

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Dear NHS National Services Scotland,

Please pass this on to the person who conducts Freedom of Information reviews.

I am writing to request an internal review of NHS National Services Scotland's handling of my FOI request 'Central Legal Office Expenses for litigation defence of Health Boards'.

Thank you for the information supplied; it is much appreciated. However, please can you revise your reply to clarify a few points, please.

Point 4. You talk about advocates being used in the Court of Session. Are you saying it has only been in cases where a solicitor is not qualified to appear, such as the Court of Session, where private Advocates have been used or have they been used in Simple Procedure cases too?

Point 5. I asked for figures per year. As it appears you use financial years (April - March) as your counting system, please can you supply your figures by this way of counting only. It removes double counting with calendar years ( Jan-Dec).

So, the number of cases per financial year 1 April to 31 March where private firm advocates were used by NHS CLO in cases where the claim value sought ( not eventually awarded) was £5000 or less:

1 April 2016 to 31 March 2017: how many cases?
1 April 2017 to 31 March 2018: how many cases?
1 April 2018 to 31 March 2019: how many cases?

Thank you.

A full history of my FOI request and all correspondence is available on the Internet at this address: https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/c...

Yours faithfully,

COLIN WHITE

FOI (NHS NATIONAL SERVICES SCOTLAND),

1 Attachment

Dear Mr White,

 

Request for Review of Freedom of Information Reference: FOI-2019-000218

 

I refer to your email which NHS National Services Scotland received on
25^th June 2019 in relation to your Freedom of Information request
(FOI-2019-000218) in which you have asked for an internal review of the
response you received.

 

I wish to advise that we are now dealing with your request for internal
review and I can confirm that NSS will review and respond to you as
quickly as possible, however under the Freedom of Information (Scotland)
Act 2002, I must advise you that the review process should be completed no
later than 23^rd of July 2019.

 

Many thanks and kindest regards,

 

Roddy

 

 

Roddy Mitchell

Corporate Records & FOI Organisational Lead

Strategy, Performance and Service Transformation

 

NHS National Services Scotland

Area 027

Gyle Square

1 South Gyle Crescent

Edinburgh, EH12 9EB

 

[1][IMG]

Please consider the environment before printing this email.

 

NHS National Services Scotland is the common name for the Common Services
Agency for the Scottish Health Service [2]www.nhsnss.org

 

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FOI (NHS NATIONAL SERVICES SCOTLAND),

2 Attachments

Dear Mr. White,

 

Freedom of Information Request for a Review: Request Reference
FOI-2019-000218

 

Please find attached the response to your request for internal review of
your FOI Request.

 

If you are dissatisfied with the outcome of the review you have the right,
within six months of receipt of this review decision, to apply for a
decision to the Scottish Information Commissioner who can be contacted at:

 

Kinburn Castle

Doubledykes Road

St Andrews

KY16 9DS

 

You also have the right of appeal, on a point of law, to the Court of
Session.

 

Many thanks and kindest regards,

 

Roddy

 

 

Roddy Mitchell

Corporate Records & FOI Organisational Lead

Strategy, Performance and Service Transformation

 

NHS National Services Scotland

Area 027

Gyle Square

1 South Gyle Crescent

Edinburgh, EH12 9EB

 

[1][IMG]

Please consider the environment before printing this email.

 

NHS National Services Scotland is the common name for the Common Services
Agency for the Scottish Health Service [2]www.nhsnss.org

 

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