IT WOULD seem that we are hearing on a daily basis worrying information about the standard of our hospital care.

Only recently did we read about the Health Chief's enquiry into the trauma surgeon, Toby Branfoot, who worked at Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust as a consultant trauma and orthopaedic surgeon.

Bosses at Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust have ordered a review of treatment by the cdonsultant trauma surgeon and the Trust is already facing legal action from one of his patients who suffered catastrophic complications and had his lower left leg amputated six months after he underwent major reconstruction surgery.

It's been a LONG time since my last blog.

Rather than apologise, I should explain this: if the purpose of this blog is to bring to life (by use of "amusing" anecdotes and other "witty" occurrences) the daily trials and tribulations of a typical North West family lawyer then a more regular update would result in all family lawyers being shot by the boring police.

The daily grind of wake up/go to work/come home/do more work may be fascinating to my mother (who requires her own twice daily updates) but you should try wringing 250 words out of it.

IT IS fair to say that referral fees have become a way of life to most lawyers over last few years.

It was once unthinkable that a solicitor would pay somebody to refer an accident claim or a house-purchase.

For most firms it is now an accepted business expense. But is it time to reconsider?

Seconds out, Round 1 - Tesco Law v Brand Solicitor

I went to the trusty top right hand corner of my browser today and typed in the words "Tesco Law". I was sure there would be a Wiki article or perhaps a line from Tesco.

Nope on both counts.

There is an article from back in 2004 in 'The Independent' that says,

"Lord Falconer's notion of cheap and accessible legal advice, dubbed by the constitutional affairs secretary 'Tesco law', came a step closer when Britain's biggest supermarket chain obliged by launching its own online legal service."

AROUND 50% of office workers use Facebook, Twitter or other social networking sites for personal use during the working day, wasting an average of 40 minutes a week per employee and costing the economy around £1.38billion a year.

One marketing company dismissed one of its employees after she said her job was "boring" on Facebook, because it believed it her comment displayed disrespect and dissatisfaction that undermined her relationship with the company. Virgin Atlantic also sacked 13 crew for describing passengers as "chavs".

Now employers are increasingly monitoring staff internet and email use in the workplace and a significant number have banned access to social networking sites during office hours.

After this story in today's LDP Legal in the Daily Post, the Ministry of Justice has abandoned plans for Best Value Tendering for legal aid.

It follows threats by the Law Society to start judicial review proceedings against the Government to try to force it to back down.

A Law Society statement reads: "The Law Society welcomes the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) decision inviting the Legal Services Commission (LSC) not to proceed with its planned pilots for Best Value Tendering (BVT).

BACK to the Good Old Days!

1999 was going to be the big bang in civil procedure. No more delays, court controls and simple procedures with costs being least of our problems as we grappled with the new way of doing things.

For those new to Civil law the National Law Society had quite a lot to say about the proposed changes. There was a great deal of concern that too many changes were taking place to areas of practise which appeared to most to be working very well!

I READ last week in the Daily Post that scores of Liverpool women are dying needlessly from breast cancer every year because their condition is diagnosed too late.

The city was found to have one of the worst survival rates anywhere in England, with almost 7% of women dead within one year of being told they have the condition.

Health experts believe the high death rate is explained by a failure to diagnose the cancer early enough.

THE LAW Society has warned that the criminal justice system will be "pushed to breaking point" by Chancellor Alistair Darling's plans to slash £360m from the system, including the already stretched legal aid budget.

Today's pre-budget report includes plans to make "savings in the Criminal Justice System by improving case management, putting underperforming or expensive public sector prisons out to competition during 2010-11, and reforming legal aid".

The move has prompted the Society to warn that further cuts to an already crippled criminal justice system will impact on access to justice.

ALISTAIR Darling's announcement that the current stamp duty holiday would not be extended beyond the end of the year is a "cruel blow at a crucial time for first-time buyers", according to a Merseyside property expert.

Currently, anyone buying a property for £175,000 or less avoids paying the 1% tax, saving them up to £1,750.

This threshold has been in place since September 2008 when the chancellor temporarily increased it from £125,000 to £175,000.