Criminal prosecutions can arise from regulatory or criminal breaches. Health and social care providers may face action from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), the Care Quality Commission (CQC) or the police.
Successful prosecutions can lead to substantial fines, sometimes imprisonment (including those in management positions) and, whether successful or not, reputational damage can occur.
Prosecutions or threats of prosecution can have a knock on effect, and affect stakeholder relationships and future regulation.
Being faced with a prosecution can be highly stressful, disruptive and confusing. Careful steps must be taken to ensure the Trust’s case is put forward clearly and robustly.
Ridouts can help you by:
- Advising NHS Trusts on HSE, CQC and Police prosecutions;
- Seeking advance disclosure from the regulators;
- Preparing documents for submission to the regulators under statutory and non-statutory requests;
- Helping NHS Trusts to understand the nature of any interview and whether or not you should attend;
- Helping NHS Trusts to carefully prepare for any interview;
- Advice on strategy and approach to the prosecution procedure;
- Preparing a case should the matter go to court, including any necessary mitigating factors to minimise any resulting fines.

Testimonials
"During 41 years’ service in the NHS working at very senior level for 35 years I rarely had cause to seek legal advice. However during the last 10 years the introduction of regulation has put CEOs and their Boards in a position where they face sanctions that in the worst case scenario could lead to criminalisation.
However what really concerns me is the effect that regulation (however well intended) can have on patient care. I sought advice from Ridouts on several occasions when my real worry and concerns for patient care reached a level I could not tolerate.
Ridouts support was crucial in enabling me to be very clear about the consequences in law of certain actions that were being proposed by the regulator. They were also able to facilitate communication with the regulator which was clear, factual, unemotional and reasonable.
Using Ridouts enabled me to get a better safer more strategic outcome for my patients, protected the workforce involved and surprisingly perhaps helped foster a much better relationship with the regulator."
Former Chief Executive, NHS Trust
“When the trust was threatened with enforcement action by the CQC, our response was a typical NHS one of arguing on the grounds of proportionality and equity. Engaging Ridouts turned our approach on its head and brought into focus that this was a legal process and required an expert legal response.
The team couldn’t have been more supportive or committed and cancelled personal plans to stay late into the evening to ensure a crucial submission deadline was met.
This approach proved to be successful with the threat of action removed.”
Deputy Chief Executive, NHS Foundation Trust
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