Your challenges
Whatever your precise identity as a public health service body, you are, unfortunately, not immune from a judicial review challenge in which a claimant will allege that a decision you have taken is unlawful, irrational, shows procedural impropriety and/or breaches the Human Rights Act 1998.
Achieving your ambitions
You want to be able to take decisions secure in the knowledge that you can defend any challenge to them. Unfortunately we cannot guarantee that you will not receive any challenges at all! However, we can support you in preparation and drafting of policies and in the taking of decisions to ensure that they are as judicial review proof as possible. In the event of a judicial review we will robustly defend your position.
The strength you need
Our 20-strong team is led by two partners. We have experience of judicial reviews in the fields of continuing care, mental health and priorities to name just a few topics that are not immune to the scrutiny of the Administrative Court!
We successfully defended the smoking policy at Rampton Hospital in both the Divisional Court and the Court of Appeal.
We acted for the PCT in the Rachel Gunter continuing healthcare case referred to in Personal Health Budgets: First Steps.
We worked with a PCT, in the period before NICE delivered its guidance on Lucentis, to defend its decision not to commission the drug in the light of the then existing evidence. The judge took care to emphasise that, whilst he was keen to see a reimbursement scheme negotiated between the manufacturer and the PCT, the conduct of the PCT in assessing the evidence and keeping it under review could not be impugned.
We successfully defended a judicial review claim against the decision of a PCT not to award a General Dental Services (GDS) contract to the personal representatives of a deceased GDS contractor. The court decided that there was no statutory or contractual basis to compel the PCT to award such a contract. Had this challenge not been successfully defended, this could have had far reaching consequences in terms of personal representatives assuming the personal rights of deceased dental contractors.
Last year we successfully warded off challenges, at common law and under Articles 6 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, to a PCT's refusal to fund bariatric surgery under the individual funding request process, in both the High Court and the Court of Appeal.
Lawyers you can trust
We are described as "combining personalised service with great depth of resources". Our clients have commented that we are "absolutely excellent", "extremely responsive" and "analytical with a high level of expertise". Of the bariatric surgery litigation, our client said: "Thanks for your expert handling of the case. We couldn't have been in safer hands."
Legal 500 has said "Jill Mason's team is the top choice for health: whatever you need, they will be able to help."