Legal and medical

Published on 31/08/2012 00:00

It was sad to read this week of an estimated 1,000 NHS jobs being “lost” this year, with NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde alone losing  about 600 posts, half of them nursing staff.

In one area of staffing, however, the NHS in Scotland seems to maintain its numbers and that is in its in-house legal staff at Bonnington, Edinburgh, where currently some 48 or 50 lawyers are employed.

This does seem, to some observers, a large number, even if Scotland has become more litigious (with the alleged advent of the compensation culture over the past two decades).

Some of the NHS legal work may also be done from time to time by outside private law firms and advocates and QCs, thus no doubt increasing NHS Scotland’s expenditure on legal services.

It might seem a shame to readers that more nurses, 
midwives and healthcare professionals could have posts in the Scottish NHS if apparent 
demand for legal services were correspondingly less.

Angus Logan

Ardwell Policy Forum

York Road

North Berwick