Avoiding litigation and complaints through good communication practices

There is a direct correlation between poor communication practices and healthcare litigation or complaints. This can be seen in countless reports published over the years. Many reports have emphasised the need for health professionals to view record keeping as an important professional skill and not something to be fitted in as an afterthought in a fast-paced clinical environment. If corners are cut in documentation and in communicating properly, at handover for example, then this markedly increases the chances of an adverse event occurring and a resulting complaint.

I have said before that if something is not written then a judge in a court may well take the view that it never happened. Your credibility as a witness often relies on your records on the day. In a very real sense, I am stating the obvious about the need for good documentation and communication practices. It is self-evident that we all need to do these things properly as a matter of sound common-sense. Unfortunately, this needs stating repeatedly, as the issue persists in the NHS. When we look at what went wrong in a patient safety or clinical negligence case, poor record keeping, documentation or communication can often be seen as a leading cause or indeed the sole cause of the problem.