Editorial Standards and Review Policy

Why Editorial Standards Matter on This Site

Medical negligence is a legally complex, emotionally sensitive, and time-critical subject. People who arrive at this site are typically in difficult circumstances — they or a family member have been harmed by clinical error and they are trying to understand what happened, what their rights are, and what they should do.

The information we provide must be:

• Legally accurate — based on current UK law, not outdated or generalised information
• Jurisdictionally specific — correctly distinguishing between the law in England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland
• Clearly positioned as general information — not legal advice, never creating a solicitor-client relationship
• Written so that a person without a legal background can understand it while remaining technically correct

This is the standard we hold ourselves to. These editorial standards exist to enforce it consistently.

Accuracy and Currency

Primary sources only

All substantive legal propositions on this site are based on primary legal sources: Acts of Parliament (including those of the Scottish Parliament and Northern Ireland Assembly), statutory instruments, reported case law from BAILII or official law reports, and procedural rules published by the relevant court services.

We do not base content on secondary summaries, other websites, or general legal reference works without verifying against the primary source. Where a primary source has changed — new legislation enacted, a significant case decided, guidance updated — we update the relevant content.

Clinical guidance

Where content references clinical standards — for example, NICE guidelines, RCOG Green-Top guidelines, the Sepsis Six bundle, or NHS England Never Events — we cite the current published version and note the publication date.

Named legislation and cases

Every statutory provision cited on this site includes the full title and section number. Every case cited includes the full citation and, where available, a BAILII link. We do not cite cases or statutes from memory without verification.

Sources We Rely On

Our content is based on and cross-referenced against the following categories of primary source:

Legislation

• Acts of Parliament (legislation.gov.uk)
• Acts of the Scottish Parliament (legislation.gov.uk)
• Acts of the Northern Ireland Assembly (legislation.gov.uk)
• Statutory instruments and Orders in Council

Case law

• BAILII (British and Irish Legal Information Institute)
• The Incorporated Council of Law Reporting (ICLR)
• Supreme Court of the United Kingdom decisions
• Court of Session decisions (Scotland)

Procedural rules and protocols

• Civil Procedure Rules and Practice Directions (England and Wales)
• Pre-Action Protocol for the Resolution of Clinical Disputes
• Rules of the Court of Judicature (Northern Ireland)
• Rules of the Court of Session (Scotland)

Clinical and regulatory guidance

• NICE guidelines and technology appraisals
• Royal College guidelines (RCOG, RCS, RCR, RCPsych, RCGP)
• NHS England and NHS Improvement patient safety publications
• NHS Resolution publications and annual reports
• MHRA guidance
• GMC standards

Professional regulatory bodies

• Solicitors Regulation Authority (England and Wales)
• Law Society of Scotland
• Law Society of Northern Ireland
• General Medical Council

YMYL Content and Our Obligations

Medical negligence information is classified as Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) content — content that could significantly affect a person's financial position, physical health, or legal rights. This classification imposes the highest standard of accuracy and expertise.

For YMYL content, we apply the following additional requirements:

Expert authorship

No YMYL content page is published without review by a qualified professional with direct experience of the subject matter. We do not publish content that no qualified reviewer has approved.

No invented authority signals

We do not invent statistics, fabricate case outcomes, cite non-existent judgments, or attribute views to organisations or individuals without verification. Where a statistic or claim cannot be verified against a primary source, it is removed.

Prominent information-only disclaimer

Every YMYL content page carries a clear statement that the content is general information only and does not constitute legal advice. This statement appears in the site header and in the footer of every page.

Last reviewed dating

Every YMYL content page carries a last reviewed date and the name of the reviewing professional. This is not decorative — it reflects genuine review by the named individual.

Jurisdictional Accuracy

One of the most common failures in UK legal information websites is treating English law as if it applies to the whole of the UK. It does not. Scotland has a distinct legal system, different procedural rules, different terminology, and in some areas different substantive law. Northern Ireland has its own courts, legislation, and healthcare system.

Our jurisdictional accuracy standards require:

Explicit jurisdiction labelling

Every content page carries a JurisdictionBadge identifying which jurisdictions the content applies to. Pages covering all three jurisdictions (England and Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland) are labelled accordingly. Pages specific to one jurisdiction carry a single-jurisdiction badge.

Scottish law distinguished

Scottish content correctly applies the Hunter v Hanley standard, the triennale under the Prescription and Limitation (Scotland) Act 1973, Court of Session and Sheriff Court procedure, CLO defendants, speculative fee arrangements, and SLAB legal aid rules. We do not apply English CPR procedure to Scottish claims.

Northern Ireland distinguished

Northern Ireland content correctly applies the Limitation (Northern Ireland) Order 1989, HSC trust defendants, the HSCLA, the current Northern Ireland personal injury discount rate, LSANI legal aid rules, and High Court of Justice in Northern Ireland procedure.

No England-only defaults

Where a rule is England and Wales only, it is stated as such. We do not write "in the UK" when we mean "in England and Wales."

Review Cycle

Annual review

Every content page is reviewed at least once per year. The review checks for legislative changes, new significant case law, updated clinical guidelines, and changes in NHS or HSC trust procedures.

Triggered review

Where a significant legal development occurs — a Supreme Court decision affecting the standard of care, a change to the discount rate, new legislation — the affected pages are reviewed and updated promptly, regardless of where they fall in the annual review cycle.

Review record

All reviews are recorded in the Last Reviewed log. Every page entry records the URL, the review date, the reviewer, and a brief note of any changes made.

Corrections Policy

We are committed to correcting errors promptly and transparently.

If we identify an error

We correct it immediately on identification. If the error was material — i.e. it conveyed incorrect legal information that could have affected a reader's understanding of their rights — we note the correction in the Last Reviewed log with a brief description of what was changed and why.

If a reader identifies an error

We welcome corrections from qualified readers. If you believe a page contains a legal error, please contact us with the specific page URL, the passage you believe is incorrect, and the primary source supporting the correct position. We will review the submission and respond within ten working days.

We do not make corrections based on opinion or preference — only on demonstrable divergence from primary legal sources.

What we do not correct

We do not alter content to reflect one party's interpretation of a disputed legal question, or to reflect a commercial partner's preferred presentation of the law. Our corrections policy applies only to factual legal error.

What We Do Not Do

In the interests of clarity, the following are things this site explicitly does not do:

• Provide legal advice. No content on this site constitutes legal advice for any specific situation. We provide general information about the law.
• Create a solicitor-client relationship. Reading this site does not create any professional relationship between the reader and any solicitor, whether or not a solicitor has contributed to the content.
• Make referrals (at present). This site currently does not operate a referral service or recommend specific solicitors. We provide general guidance on how to find specialist solicitors through the appropriate regulatory body directories.
• Guarantee outcomes. Nothing on this site predicts or guarantees any outcome in any individual claim. Every case is fact-specific.
• Publish statistics without sources. Every statistic cited on this site is sourced to a named primary or official source. We do not fabricate or estimate statistics.
• Use AI-generated content without expert review. Any use of AI assistance in drafting content is subject to full expert review before publication. AI drafts are treated as raw material, not finished content.

Contact Us About Content

If you have identified a legal error, a broken source link, an out-of-date statutory reference, or any other content issue, please contact us:

TODO: client to supply contact email or form

We will acknowledge all content-related correspondence within five working days and provide a substantive response within ten working days.