Brooke LJ held that ‘the only rule that this court has to apply in the present case is that if a patient is injured by reason of a negligent breakdown in the systems for communicating material information to the clinicians responsible for her care, she is not to be denied redress merely because no identifiable person or persons are to blame.’, but went on to say that: ‘Although it is customary to say that a health authority is vicariously liable for breach of duty if its responsible servants or agents fail to set up a safe system of operation in relation to what are essentially management as opposed to clinical matters, this formulation may tend to cloud the fact that in any event it has a non-delegable duty to establish a proper system of care just as much as it has a duty to engage competent staff and a duty to provide proper and safe equipment and safe premises (compare Wilsher v Essex AHA [1987] QB 747 per Sir Nicolas Browne-Wilkinson at p 778 A-D and Glidewell LJ, agreeing on this point, at p775 B-C).
A health authority owes its patient a duty to provide her with a reasonable regime of care at its hospital (Gold v Essex County Council [1942] 2 KB 293 per Lord Greene MR at pp 302 and 304; and per Goddard LJ at p 309; Roe v Minister of Health [1954] 2 QB 66 per Denning LJ at p72, applying what he said in Cassidy v Ministry of Health [1951] 2 KB 343 at pp 359-365, and per Morris LJ at pp 88-89). For examples of analogous cases within a master-servant relationship where an employer was held liable for a systems failure see McDermid v North Dredging and Reclamation Company Ltd [1987] AC 906, per Lord Hailsham of St Marylebone at pp 910F-G and 911F-G and per Lord Brandon at pp 918G-H and 919B-D; and Wilsons and Clyde Coal Co Ltd v English [1938] AC 57 per Lord Wright at pp 81-84. By a reasonable regime of care we mean a regime of a standard that can reasonably be expected of a hospital of the size and type in question – in the present case a large teaching centre of excellence.’
Judges:
Brooke LJ
Citations:
[1987] 8 Med LR 1
Cited by:
Cited – Farraj and Another v King’s Healthcare NHS Trust (KCH) and Another CA 13-Nov-2009
The claimant parents each carried a gene making any child they bore liable to suffer a serious condition. On a pregnancy the mother’s blood was sent for testing to the defendants who sent it on to the second defendants. The condition was missed, . .
Cited – Woodland v Essex County Council CA 9-Mar-2012
The claimant had been injured in a swimming pool during a lesson. The lesson was conducted by outside independent contractors. The claimant appealed against a finding that his argument that they had a non-delegable duty of care was bound to fail. . .
Lists of cited by and citing cases may be incomplete.
Professional Negligence
Updated: 02 May 2022; Ref: scu.378398