Read the latest on the COVID-19 Inquiry and themes for Covid-related inquests and claims. Also: the government’s response to the Paterson Inquiry report, proposals for a new Special Health Authority and managing risk around the expansion of virtual wards.

The Court of Appeal determined whether the former owner of a dental practice was liable for the treatment provided to a patient by three self-employed dental associates. Find out what the decision means for healthcare providers.

Safety of two medicines (Primodos and Sodium Valproate) and one device (pelvic mesh) was at the heart of the report of the Independent Medicines and Medical Devices Safety Review. Read the latest update on this topic.

Two cases awaiting decisions from the Court of Appeal could have a significant impact for healthcare organisations.

In this year’s forward view, we consider issues ranging from fixed recoverable costs in clinical negligence claims, claims resulting from COVID-19 treatment, major inquiries, clinical trials and healthcare technology.

The government is opening a consultation on fixed recoverable costs in low value clinical negligence claims. The proposed scheme aims to avoid litigation and speed up the exchange of evidence for faster agreement on liability, causation and quantum.

Concussion injury and its consequences continue to be in the news, with group litigation planned by both rugby and football players. We could see more claims of this nature, including from other sports where head injury is a risk.

The vast majority of the inquest cases relate to acquisition of Covid-19 during hospital admission and staffing/resource issues. In a recent case a Coroner was critical of a decision not to escalate a patient’s care to ICU.

Delays to non-Covid treatment is the leading type of claim against NHS Trusts to date, followed by Hospital-Acquired Covid (HAC) and failure to treat Covid appropriately.

Read the latest developments regarding the impending Public Inquiry, including what this means for you.

The government has published its long-awaited response to the Paterson Inquiry Report. Read the details and what you need to do next in our insight.

This year is likely to see a resurgence of non-Covid trials which have been postponed or paused in the last two years, and new trials for Covid treatments and vaccines (e.g. those based on conventional vaccine technology).