Stuart Poyner, chief executive of the Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent Partnership, one of the largest NHS trusts in England has promised that his organisation will take a “pro-active” approach to dealing with medical negligence claims.

He has indicated that he did not want the trust to “defend the indefensible” and has convinced the trust’s board to agree a commitment to admitting liability or breach of duty as early as possible in the claim.

He has admitted that the NHS has an initial mentality of taking on complaints whereas “we should automatically believe what complaints are saying rather than the other way round.”

Robert Barker, head of medical negligence at M R Law comments: “I am sure Mr Poyner’s comments are made with the best of intentions and his trust may well now be taking a pro-active approach. However, generally and without wishing to sound cynical, the instant reaction is we will believe it when we see it.

Far too often, NHS trusts or those representing them fail to admit liability or breach of duty at an early stage, even in the most straightforward of cases. It causes a significant delay in finalising claims and a huge increase in the legal costs of pursuing a claim yet those representing the trust will be the first to complain about the extent of those legal costs.

It is in the interests of all parties for NHS trusts to accept they are at fault as early as possible in the process although regrettably, it just does not occur often enough. Hopefully Mr Poyner’s comments will encourage others to make a similar commitment.”