No-Fault Approaches in the Nhs: Raising Concerns and Raising Standards

This book explores how concerns can be raised about the NHS, why raising concerns hasn’t always improved standards, and how a no-fault open culture approach could drive improvements.

The book describes a wide range of mechanisms for raising concerns about the NHS, including complaints, the ombudsman, litigation, HSIB, and the major inquiries since 2000, across the various UK jurisdictions. The NHS approach is contextualised within the broader societal developments in dispute resolution, accountability, and regulation.

The authors take a holistic view, and outline practical solutions for reforming how the NHS responds to problems. These should improve the situation for those raising concerns and for those working within the NHS, as well as providing cost savings. The no-fault approaches proposed in the book provide long-term sustainable solutions to systemic problems, which are particularly timely given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the NHS.

The book will be of interest to academics, researchers, ADR practitioners, practising lawyers, and policy makers.

Sonia Macleod is Researcher in the Research Programme on Civil Justice Systems at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies; Christopher Hodges OBE is Emeritus Professor of Justice Systems at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies and Supernumerary Fellow of Wolfson College, both at the University of Oxford, UK.