0800 652 3371

 

Lanyon Bowdler: Full-Service Law Firm Shropshire, Herefordshire & North Wales

 

If you wish to get in touch with us regarding any of the services we offer then please use the contact form below, and one of our team will be in touch with you as soon as possible. If you are unsure as to your nearest office, then please use the map on this page so that we may deal with your enquiry more efficiently. Alternatively, use the contact details on our office location pages.

Get in Touch with Edward Burrell

Looking For A Specific Location?


Head Office


Client Testimonials

Friendly, first name terms, down to earth.

- Mr Roger B Ridgeway, Wem

An amazing professional service from start to finish. Thank you.

- Mrs J F Bowes, Nottinghamshire

Dealing with one person when possible. Clear, simple advice.

- Mrs S A Flynn, London

Very professional, but also caring. Never made to feel I was just another client from a heavy case load. 

- Valerie H H Holtz, Ludlow

Staff knew their area of work, no improvements to your service are required.

- Mrs B D Cooper, Ludlow

Our People

We have many key individuals within the firm, all playing their part in ensuring the things that matter to you work.


Latest News

15 Mar 2024

Beware the Risks of Associate Physicians in the NHS

While the majority of healthcare professionals in the NHS are highly skilled and dedicated, there is growing concern about the role of physician associates within the NHS, and the risks they pose to patient safety.

The role of physician associates is relatively "new" in England and Wales, although the first physician associate roles were formally introduced in 2003 in the NHS.

Physician associates support doctors in the diagnosis and management of patients. They typically work in general practice in GP surgeries, but also can be found in hospital in acute medicine and emergency medicine. They often work under the supervision of fully qualified consultants and are involved in various clinical activities, including:

  • taking medical histories from patients
  • performing physical examinations
  • diagnosing illnesses
  • seeing patients with long-term chronic conditions
  • performing diagnostic and therapeutic procedures
  • analysing test results
  • developing management plans
  • providing health promotion and disease prevention advice for patients.

Physician associates undergo medical training for two years, but do not have the same level of experience and expertise as consultants. This can sometimes lead to gaps in knowledge or judgment, which can increase the likelihood of medical errors occurring.

One of the primary risks associated with associate physicians is the potential for mistakes to occur due to their limited experience and supervision. These mistakes can range from misdiagnoses and medication errors to procedural complications. In some cases, these errors can have serious consequences for patients, leading to prolonged illness, disability, or even death.

A recent high profile example occurred in 2022 when actress Emily Chesterton died after being misdiagnosed twice by a physician associate who misdiagnosed her as suffering from a sprained ankle, when in fact she had suffered a pulmonary embolism. She subsequently collapsed and sadly died.

Physician associates also face challenges in managing complex cases or identifying rare medical conditions due to their lack of experience. This can result in delays in diagnosis and treatment, which can exacerbate patients’ conditions and lead to poorer outcomes.

While it is essential to recognise the valuable role that physician associates play within the NHS, it is also crucial for patients to take precautions to minimise the risks associated with their care. Patients should feel empowered to ask questions about their treatment plans, seek second opinions if necessary, and ensure that they fully understand any medications or procedures prescribed to them by the physician associate. Additionally, healthcare institutions must prioritise adequate supervision and support for physician associates to help mitigate the risks of errors occurring, and ensuring that robust systems are in place for reviewing and addressing any adverse events that occur.

If you have suffered a poor or adverse outcome due to a physician associate and wish to have free and confidential advice, you can contact our specialist team of clinical negligence lawyers.

Read More
12 Mar 2024

Interim Payments of Damages

One of the features of clinical negligence cases is the almost unavoidable amount of time they take to resolve, very often measured in years, with one or two exceptions. Take a claimant with a clinical negligence case where liability is admitted but settlement is going to take some time. That might be because, for example, expert evidence is awaited and is many months away, or the claimant is too young for the financial value to be determined with reasonable certainty and the case needs to stay ‘on ice’ for a period of time to see how injuries develop.

How then to deal with the more immediate problems of money?

If you are unable to work either because of your own injuries or because of the care needs of a loved one, financial pressures can be very significant. Perhaps there are certain items of equipment, aids or therapies that may be helpful but which are particularly expensive and beyond financial reach at present, or perhaps adapted accommodation is needed urgently. The solution in appropriate cases is an interim payment of damages. A good lawyer should recognise when an interim payment of damages may be appropriate and advise you accordingly.

What is an interim payment of damages?

In short, it is an up-front payment of part of your damages whilst the case is still ongoing. It requires your lawyer to have a reasonable idea of the minimum financial value of the case, and for a collaborative approach to be taken by a defendant, particularly if the case has not been issued in Court. If you are in the position of Court proceedings having been issued and served, then an application can be made for the Court to order an interim payment if the defendant is not prepared to agree one.

How much can you get?

As you might expect, the answer is “it depends”. The precise ins and outs of an interim payment depend on the facts and circumstances of each case, so there is no ‘one size fits all’ method of approaching it. What we can say for sure based on the law around interim payments of damages is that the amount being requested does have to be a reasonable proportion of a conservative estimate of what you are likely to receive in damages if the case were to go to trial. So in practical terms, your lawyer should take the likely range of financial values (based on the available evidence), make a decision on what is a conservative estimate within that range, and then seek a reasonable proportion of that amount.

Are there any other considerations?

Well, yes! Your lawyer should be sign-posting you for advice about the effect an interim payment of damages might have on any means-tested benefits you get (or may get in future). Depending on the size of the interim payment being proposed, it may be appropriate to recommend that you get independent financial advice about investing it. If the case is one of catastrophic injury (for example brain injury, spinal cord injury or an amputation) then it will be important to consider whether it might affect the structure of the final damages payment at the end of the case, which can be a lump sum or a mixture of lump sum and annual payment for life (called a Periodical Payment Order or ‘PPO’). In a similar vein, if the injured party doesn’t have mental capacity to manage their own financial affairs then the Court may want a professional deputy to be appointed to manage the money.

It’s a complicated but important point, and it requires a good lawyer to steer you through it. That’s where we come in, for advice please contact our specialist team or email info@lblaw.co.uk.

Read More
07 Mar 2024

Carer’s Leave

New regulations will come into force on 6 April 2024 that will provide employees with the right to take up to one week of statutory unpaid carer’s leave in any 12-month period to care for, or arrange care for, dependants with long-term care needs.

A person is a "dependant" for these purposes if they:

  • Are a spouse, civil partner, child or parent of the employee.
  • Live in the same household as the employee, otherwise than by reason of being the employee's boarder, employee, lodger or tenant, or reasonably rely on the employee to provide or arrange care.

A dependant has a "long-term care need" for these purposes if any of the following apply:

  • They have an illness or injury (whether physical or mental) that requires, or is likely to require, care for more than three months.
  • They have a disability for the purposes of the Equality Act 2010.
  • They require care for a reason connected with their old age.

To be eligible for carer’s leave, an employee will need to provide advance notice (which need not be in writing) of the longer of (i) three days or (ii) twice the number of days as the period of leave requested. An employer may waive the notice requirement where the other requirements of the regulations have been met, however

The amount of leave is determined by the employee’s normal working pattern. For those with fixed normal working hours, a week’s leave matches the period they are usually required to work. For an employee with a variable work pattern, the calculation is based on an average of the work periods over the preceding 12-month period. If the employee has been employed for less than 52 weeks, the calculation is based on the entire period of employment; or, if the employee has been employed for less than one week, a period equal in duration to the period the employee is expected to work in that week.

Eligible employees will be able to take the leave in increments of half days or full days – which need not be consecutive – or as a single, full week.

An employer cannot require an employee to supply evidence in relation to a request for carer’s leave before granting the leave.

An employer will be permitted to postpone an employee’s leave if it considers that the business would be unduly disrupted by the absence. However, to do so, it must notify the employee as soon as reasonably practicable and not later than the earlier of seven days after the employee’s notice was given to the employer, or before the earliest day or part day requested in the employee’s notice. The employer will also need to consult with the employee and reschedule the leave to commence no later than one month after the earliest day or part day of the employee’s request.

During carer’s leave, the employee will retain the benefit of their terms and conditions of employment, except for wages / salary. The employee will also be bound by any obligations arising under those terms and conditions.

After taking carer’s leave, the employee will be entitled to return to the job in which they were employed before the absence, with the same seniority, pension rights, and not less favourable terms and conditions; and employees will be protected from being subjected to detriment or dismissal on the grounds of taking, seeking to take, or because the employer believed that the employee was likely to take, carer’s leave.

Where an employee has a contractual right to carer’s leave in addition to the statutory right, they will not be permitted to exercise both separately. Instead, the employee may take advantage of whichever right is more favourable in any particular respect.

Read More