Cancer Diagnosis/Treatment & COVID-19 - An Update for Clinical Negligence Lawyers

Introduction

Many people had vital cancer screening tests cancelled during COVID-19, others were unable to see their GP with symptoms, meaning diagnoses were made later than the optimum. Diagnosed treatment was often delayed.

This disruption to cancer services in England and Wales is likely to lead to further late diagnoses and unnecessary deaths over the next few years.

In this virtual classroom seminar we look at whether this will lead to further claims for negligent treatment and how the claims will be defended by the NHS. We will also assess the chances of success of cancer cases on liability and causation.

What You Will Learn

This live and interactive session will cover the following:

• Which cases for misdiagnosis might be successful and what evidence will be required for success
• An assessment of GPs duties to potential cancer patients during COVID-19
• How long it is reasonable for the NHS to take to resume cancer services
• A review of the NICE Guidelines for Rapid Guidelines for Delivery of Systemic Anti-Cancer Treatments and for Radiotherapy 2020 and 2021 and the Prioritisation Tables
• Establishing causation - deciding how quickly the patient would have been seen and whether this would have affected the outcome
• Material contribution
• Which cases to investigate
• How to identify and triage a successful claim
• The confusion between lung cancer and COVID-19
• Quantum on cancer cases and how to make an assessment

Recording of live sessions: Soon after the Learn Live session has taken place you will be able to go back and access the recording - should you wish to revisit the material discussed.