The "threat" of potential compensation claims do not make UK services work safer [8th Aug 2011]
Five patients of an orthopaedic doctor Manjit Bharma have been awarded £750,000 compensation after they were left with permanent mobility problems following surgery. The doctor is still working within the NHS despite these claims. One patient was left with damage to a major nerve and pain which has prevented him from working. Another 23 year old required a hip replacement and was given the wrong implant. She now has a lifelong disability. Meanwhile another patient was left with one leg longer than the other after operation. The hospital where the operations took place has admitted liability and has agreed to out of court settlements. However Bharma now works at the Pinderfields Hospital. The collapse of tour company Holidays 4 UK has resulted in the cancellation of many family holidays this summer, however it has emerged that it may take up to 8 months for those families to receive their compensation. This may mean that they will not be able to afford another holiday until that money comes through. It is thought that around 50,000 holiday makers had trips booked with the company and they have been informed of the wait by the Civil Aviation Authority who administers the rescue fund. Gloria De Piero, the shadow culture minister has commented that those families who are already overseas, need to be looked after by the government and that it is not fair that ordinary families should have to pay the price of the failure of any company. She points out the compensation should be paid as soon as possible. The release of six monthly figures from Lloyds Bank this week has indicated that it suffered a loss of £3.3 billion and it is being blamed on the cost of the PPI compensation scheme. Lloyds was forced to put aside £3.2 billion to cover the cost of PPI compensation claims, however the bank also suffered due to the larger than expected cost of lending money in Ireland. The bank saw its shares fall by 10% after the six monthly figures were released. Yet another insurance company has come forward to ask the government to take action to stop the increases in car insurance costs caused by the current compensation culture in the UK. Axa is the only UK insurer which as so far agreed to stop the practise of selling customer details to claims companies. They say that the government needs to do more and that making cuts to the fees allowed to be charged by lawyers who offer no win no fees services would be a good start. Paul Evans from Axa has said that the banning of referrals fees is a good thing but that this is a symptom and not the cause of the increase in personal injury claims. Evans believes that the online system which allows those involved in an accident to claim compensation using a fixed fee system was part of the problem. He says that lawyers using that scheme would have paid referral fees for these details. The need for more thorough medical examinations was also obvious, he said. There has been a 10% drop in the number of accidents on UK roads in the past three years, but a 43% increase in the number of compensation claims being made. Shop owners in Driffield in East Yorkshire are asking for compensation after they were forced to close for up to two hours during their busiest trading time due to a power cut. 3,096 properties were left without power at lunchtime on Saturday due to a fault on an underground cable. Shop owners have said that it was too dangerous to leave their stores open due to a lack of light. Some owners say they lost up to £1,000 during the two hour period. They say they will be talking to the electricity company about getting compensation. CE Electric have issued an apology but would not comment on any compensation claims. |
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