The Government published its integration white paper, “Joining up care for people, places and populations” last week. The white paper provides more detail of the expectations for place-based working between the NHS and local government.

Delayed discharge continues to be a serious issue for NHS Trusts, particularly in times of COVID-19 where the NHS is facing unprecedented pressures. In this insight, we summarise our top tips for minimising causes of delay and other actions you can take.

The Information Commissioner’s Office has finalised new standard clauses (known as the IDTA, or ‘international data transfer agreement’) to support international data flows. Find out how to use the new clauses in our insight.

If you are thinking of taking legal action regarding a tenancy, considering whether you have done all you can to assist the tenant beforehand is vital. We summarise a recent example and explain the practical aspects you need to consider.

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.

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).

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.

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.

The pandemic has seen an acceleration in the use of technology: remote GP consultations, the use of apps for ‘track and trace’ and AI as a diagnostic reporting tool (e.g. in radiology), with legal issues likely to centre on information governance.

We have summarised the key temporary variations to primary care contracts as well as the changes to the 2021/22 Network Contract Directed Enhanced Services (DES).

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.