Solicitors’ letters regarding ‘mask discrimination’
We are aware that practices are being contacted by solicitors’ firms seeking damages for patients for “discrimination in relation to mask wearing and access to care”. The following advice may be helpful for practices in order to identify the reasonableness of such claims:
- Check the solicitor/firm is real using the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) website.
- The SRA’s “scam alerts” for the public and businesses are also helpful.
- Report the matter directly to the SRA if you think a firm or anyone regulated by the SRA has breached an SRA Principle. There are seven Principles that all people and law firms regulated by SRA must meet. This means that they must act:
- in a way that upholds the constitutional principle of the rule of law, and the proper administration of justice
- in a way that upholds public trust and confidence in the solicitors' profession and in legal services provided by authorised persons
- with independence
- with honesty
- with integrity
- in a way that encourages equality, diversity and inclusion
- in the best interests of each client.
- There are two Codes of Conduct which outline the professional standards expected. The first Code of Conduct is for regulated solicitors, and lawyers from overseas. The second Code of Conduct is for regulated firms. This sets out requirements for those firms, the people who manage them, and other employees who work in them.
- Should you wish to report the solicitor or firm to the SRA, instructions on how to do this are here. When reporting: set out your concerns clearly, identify individuals you consider responsible, attach any evidence you have in support. Complete a report form and send to report@sra.org.uk.
- For guidance on the complaints process, call the SRA contact centre. They cannot provide advice about your issue, but can point you in the right direction.
The following resources may also be helpful:
- Misconduct notes.
- Unsolicited approaches
- Personal injury (possible parallels here)
GP State of Emergency update March 2017 (22 Mar 2017)
Our GP State of Emergency campaign is almost a year old and continues to go from strength-to-strength, with the website just passing 10,000 downloads of template letters, posters and guidance...Londonwide LMCs' March 2017 newsletter (22 Mar 2017)
Impact of IR35 changes on practices : New Guidance (22 Mar 2017)
The IR35 has been introduced as an anti-tax avoidance mechanism and applies to those organisations defined as a ‘public authority’ under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. For NHS purposes...Unresourced and unfunded work (22 Mar 2017)
Our November 2016 workforce survey showed significant demand for work outside of core contract being put on responding practices. Of the 12 types of work not covered by core that...Child safeguarding reports – where does your practice stand with local authorities? (22 Mar 2017)
This item was originally published in April 2017, following feedback from LMCs we can now add that Hammersmith and Fulham Council do pay GPs for child protection reports and have a...Winter Indemnity Scheme extended to cover Easter weekend 2017 (20 Mar 2017)
NHS England’s Winter Indemnity Scheme has been extended to run until 17 April 2017, a month longer than originally intended. The extension has been introduced with a particular view to...Premises fact sheet - service charges for CHP and NHS Property Services tenants (17 Mar 2017)
We are aware that some practices are experiencing substantial increases in premises service charges and difficulties in understanding their invoices. We have produced a fact sheet to support you; we...GPC election results 2017 (16 Mar 2017)
Dr Michelle Drage has been re-elected to the BMA’s General Practitioners Committee, Dr Pamela Martin from Lewisham has also been elected. Their specific constituencies are: Dr Michelle Drage representing Hillingdon,...NHSPS debt recovery letters error (09 Mar 2017)
The British Medical Association (BMA) have notified us that they have been in discussion with NHS Property Services (NHSPS) over ongoing issues with the approach NHSPS has with practices. However,...February 2017 newsletter (23 Feb 2017)
Guidance
We provide expert guidance for practices in our guidance section, as well as an archive of other materials you may find useful.
GP Support
Contact our GP Support team if you need help or advice.
The team provide professional and pastoral support to GPs and practice teams on a broad range of issues.
follow us on...
