Primary and acute care
Nursing expert witnesses
Listed nursing expert witnesses address assessment, observation, documentation, medication administration and escalation within the nursing role. The standard applied is that of a competent registered nurse in the relevant field of practice.
01
The evidence
What a nursing expert witness is asked to determine
Nursing evidence usually rests on the observation chart, care plan, risk assessments and handover records. The discipline is defined by field, so an opinion on adult ward care does not carry across to theatre, community or mental health nursing without saying so.
- Whether risk assessments for falls, pressure damage, nutrition or deterioration were completed and updated.
- Whether observations were taken at the recorded frequency and acted upon when they changed.
- Whether escalation to medical review took place at the point the findings indicated.
- Whether medication administration, monitoring and documentation met the expected standard.
- Whether the care plan reflected the assessed needs and was followed in practice.
Practitioners are listed across all four UK nations. Location can be narrowed in the register’s location listings before an instruction is made.
Claim contexts
Claims that instruct this discipline
These links describe the question nursing evidence can answer. They do not prescribe the scope of an individual instruction.
Clinical negligence claims
Observation, escalation and nursing care during an admission.
View claim type → 02Inquests
Nursing evidence where the circumstances of a death are being investigated.
View claim type → 03Personal injury claims
Pressure damage, falls and care-related injury during treatment.
View claim type →Search the register by the discipline used in the instruction.
See nursing listingsReport routes
Reports prepared
Nursing documentation supports a records review report without examination in most instructions. A breach and causation report addresses whether an identified departure made a difference to the outcome.
Where continuing care needs are in issue, a care needs assessment may form a separate part of the evidence. The requirements for that report are set out on its page.
Nursing expert witness evidence
A nurse expert witness gives an opinion within a stated field of nursing practice, based on the observation record, care plan and documentation supplied with the instruction.
Discipline and location filters narrow the listing, and contact is made with the practitioner direct. See the The NMC Code alongside the case material.
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