About me
I’m a partner and head up the firm’s Manchester Healthcare and Public Law team. My focus is on advising health and social care providers on complex issues, including public inquiries, inquests, patient safety reviews and Court of Protection cases.
I’ve been with Hill Dickinson since 1999, building long-term relationships with clients across the North West and Midlands. My approach is practical and straightforward; I pride myself on clear advice in plain English with a focus on solutions that work.
What I enjoy most is helping clients improve patient safety and deliver lasting change.
Leading the Manchester CSR team also falls within my remit. I enjoy “giving back” to the communities in which Hill Dickinson and our clients operate. Beyond that, I love travelling to new and far-flung places. This helps me to refresh my perspective on work and life in general.
My experience
- Advising Alder Hey Children’s Hospital on the wide range of legal issues that arose following the discovery of organ retention: Redfern inquiry, clinical negligence claims, re-opened inquests, media management, professional regulatory and the implications of the change in the law through introduction of the Human Tissue Act 2005.
- Part of the team advising the Countess of Chester NHS Foundation Trust on the Thirlwall Inquiry into the actions of Lucy Letby: supporting witnesses to provide statements and give evidence, special measures applications for vulnerable witnesses, media management, disclosure of documents, and the police investigation into various offences including corporate manslaughter.
- Advising the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust on the wide range of legal issues that arose following its patient safety investigation into the historical actions of a Consultant Surgeon: reopened inquests, lesson learning, GMC, media management, responding to and supporting an external inquiry by a barrister.
- Advising the Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust on the wide range of legal issues that arose following the identification of inaccurate post mortem reporting by a Consultant Pathologist: re-opened inquests, responding to requests via the coroner for a public inquiry, clinical negligence claims regarding misdiagnosis of the cause of death and histopathology reporting, GMC implications, police investigation and media management.
- Advising the Greater Manchester Neurosciences Department at the inquest into the death of Robert Hart who died after a punch at the Parklife festival in Manchester, with the complication of a clinical negligence error: supporting staff to draft statements and give evidence, lesson learning, patient safety investigation and media management.
- Acting for Salford Royal Hospital in an application to the Court of Protection for authority to sedate a young teenage patient with anorexia so that she could be fed against her will in an intensive care setting. Authority was granted. This was the first time sedation in an intensive care setting for the purpose of feeding had been sought. Liaison with the treating mental health team and her parents formed an essential part of the application.
