The Duty Of Care Applies To Non-Medics

A court in a medical negligence case has decided that non-clinical hospital staff, as well as the clinicians, owe a duty of care to patients. The case - which involved a patient attending at a hospital's A&E department - emphasises the wide interpretation the courts will apply to the duty of care in personal injury claims involving medical negligence.

A unanimous Supreme Court judgment (Darnley v Croydon Health Services NHS Trust [2018] UKSC 50) sets out that once a patient has presented at A&E requesting medical attention, part of the duty of care which non-medics owe to patients includes providing them with accurate information on waiting times.

The facts

Mr Darnley was assaulted by a blow to the head on the afternoon of 17 May 2010. Later that day he attended the A&E department at Mayday Hospital, Croydon with a worsening headache. On arrival Mr Darnley was advised by a receptionist that he may have to wait four or five hours before being seen. Mr Darnley said he couldn't wait that long, as he felt he was just about to collapse. The receptionist replied that if he were to collapse, that would be treated as an emergency.

In actual fact, the hospital's policy was for all head injury patients to be seen by the triage nurse within 30 minutes of their arrival at A&E. The information provided to Mr Darnley was wrong. He would have in fact been seen within the first half hour of his arrival.

Mr Darnley stayed at the hospital for just 19 minutes as he felt too unwell to stay, and wanted to go home to take some paracetamol. Less than an hour after leaving the hospital, Mr Darnley's condition deteriorated and he collapsed. He was transported by ambulance back to A&E at Mayfield Hospital where a CT scan identified a large extra-dural haematoma which required surgery. Mr Darnley was left with permanent brain damage as a result.

It was found that had the correct information been provided to Mr Darnley, he would have waited to be seen. Had Mr Darnley waited at reception and suffered his collapse in the hospital, he would have had his surgery hours earlier, and would have made a much better recovery.

The claim

Mr Darnley raised an action against the NHS Trust. He alleged that, firstly, the non-medical reception staff had breached their duty of care towards him by giving him wrong information about how long he would have to wait, and secondly, that he should have been seen by the triage nurse as a priority.

The court's decision

At the High Court...