Legal Action Group have recently sent me two books to review, one very long, and the other very short. This review can be short. They are both excellent.
In slightly greater detail, the long (1114 pages) book is the second edition of NHS Law and Practice (£95.00), with a revised author team led by David Lock KC, Leon Glenister and Hannah Gibbs. I should come clean immediately and say that, thanks to their kindness, I had early access to it when working on the chapter on the intersection between social care and healthcare when leading on the Law Commission’s consultation paper on disabled children’s social care law. I knew that I could rely upon it as an authoritative, clear and and straightforward guide to a world that is anything but clear and straightforward. They saved me a huge amount of time, and they will equally save anyone – whether they be patient, family member or professional – huge amounts of time trying to navigate the maze of primary and secondary legislation, statutory guidance, non-statutory guidance, case-law and (on occasion) urban myth in this area. The authors are to be thanked and congratulated, and encouraged to start girding their loins again for a new edition.
The short (188 pages) book is an entirely new work, that of colleagues in Chambers, Steve Broach KC and Victoria Butler-Cole KC (together with other contributors). Called Making Lawful Decisions (£45.00), it tackles a topic which is should be of interest to everyone. In short chapters covering all stages of the decision-making process, as well as compliance with the Human Rights Act 1998 and the Equality Act 2010, it packs in a huge amount of supremely practical wisdom and has the potential to save everyone industrial quantities of time, money and heartache by ensuring that decisions are made lawfully first time around. The chapter on remedies in the Law Commission consultation paper I noted above could have been cut by at least half, if not more, had this book been published and been followed years ago. The authors – all of them – have done a real public service in pulling this work together. I hope that a second edition will not be needed, even if the reality is that it may well be in due course.
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Note: I am always happy to review books in the field of mental capacity, mental health and heatlhcare law (broadly defined).
