Clinical negligence news
20/01/2011

Children's hospital denies clinical negligence claims

Management at Alder Hey Children's Hospital in Liverpool has replied to allegations of failing to investigate claims of clinical negligence and other staffing issues which were published in a Sunday newspaper.

The Independent on Sunday suggested that, since 2008, whistleblowers who complained of malpractice and bullying at the renowned hospital had been ignored but the hospital's chief executive said there had been no malpractice and the allegations were completely unfounded.

A statement from the Alder Hey Children's Foundation NHS Trust said it always took complaints from staff or patients seriously and that it had one of the most-open operations possible. Bereaved parents were always offered help and support.

A report from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has said there are no current concerns with the trust which runs the hospital and that if a member of staff, or the public, has any worries about the possibility of medical negligence or circumstances likely to cause personal injury, an approach should be made to the independent organisation.

MP Bill Cash, who represents Stone, in Staffordshire, has called for an investigation into the matters referred to in the press report.

In the late-1990s, the hospital was at the centre of a scandal regarding the use of organs of dead children for research without the parents' permission, which resulted in payments of compensation claims to the affected families.