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15 July 2020
Issue: 7895 / Categories: Legal News , Covid-19 , Personal injury
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NLJ this week: Remembering the non-COVID patients

The NHS's focus on COVID-19 is having a 'significant and worsening' impact on non-COVID patients, a QC has warned

Writing in this week's NLJ, Theo Huckle QC, Doughty Street, notes the reallocation of resources to cope with the global pandemic means people with serious illnesses may have gone undiagnosed and untreated. He has written, along with doctors and patient safety groups, to the Prime Minister and First Ministers of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, to highlight the issue. He reproduces the replies, but is still to hear from those in charge of Scotland and England.  

Huckle writes: 'The complaint, made to us by those with direct inside knowledge in the health service, was that there came a point when the fear of the NHS being “overwhelmed” subsided as it became apparent that the NHS was coping well.  

'We can argue about when that time was, but it is clear that it was many weeks ago now, and yet here we are with resources not having been successfully applied to fill the massive hole that was created in the services for seriously ill non-COVID patients.'

Read Theo Huckle's article here

@DoughtyStreet

MOVERS & SHAKERS

Cripps—Radius Law

Cripps—Radius Law

Commercial and technology practice boosted by team hire

Switalskis—Grimsby

Switalskis—Grimsby

Firm expands with new Grimsby office to serve North East Lincolnshire

Slater Heelis—Will Newman & Lucy Spilsbury

Slater Heelis—Will Newman & Lucy Spilsbury

Property team boosted by two solicitor appointments

NEWS
A High Court ruling involving the Longleat estate has exposed the fault line between modern family building and historic trust drafting. Writing in NLJ this week, Charlotte Coyle, director and family law expert at Freeths, examines Cator v Thynn [2026] EWHC 209 (Ch), where trustees sought approval to modernise trusts that retain pre-1970 definitions of ‘child’, ‘grandchild’ and ‘issue’
Fresh proposals to criminalise ‘nudification’ apps, prioritise cyberflashing and non-consensual intimate images, and even ban under-16s from social media have reignited debate over whether the Online Safety Act 2023 (OSA 2023) is fit for purpose. Writing in NLJ this week, Alexander Brown, head of technology, media and telecommunications, and Alexandra Webster, managing associate, Simmons & Simmons, caution against reactive law-making that could undermine the Act’s ‘risk-based and outcomes-focused’ design
Recent allegations surrounding Peter Mandelson and Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor have reignited scrutiny of the ancient common law offence of misconduct in public office. Writing in NLJ this week, Simon Parsons, teaching fellow at Bath Spa University, asks whether their conduct could clear a notoriously high legal hurdle
A landmark ruling has reshaped child clinical negligence claims. Writing in NLJ this week, Jodi Newton, head of birth and paediatric negligence at Osbornes Law, explains how the Supreme Court in CCC v Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2026] UKSC 5 has overturned Croke v Wiseman, ending the long-standing bar on children recovering ‘lost years’ earnings
A Court of Appeal ruling has drawn a firm line under party autonomy in arbitration. Writing in NLJ this week, Masood Ahmed, associate professor at the University of Leicester, analyses Gluck v Endzweig [2026] EWCA Civ 145, where a clause allowing arbitrators to amend an award ‘at any time’ was held incompatible with the Arbitration Act 1996
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