Legal support during an MNSI investigation.
If you’ve received a letter under the Early Notification Scheme or are supporting an MNSI investigation into your child’s birth, you may be unsure as to your legal options. If so, we’re here to help.
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Expert MNSI solicitors, on your side.
Following events leading to your child's brain injury, or relating to a maternal or neonatal death, our specialist solicitors are here to help to guide and support you through an MNSI investigation.
The MNSI programme requires NHS Hospitals in England to report to their team within 30 days all incidents where babies (who were born at term and following a labour) had a potential severe brain injury diagnosed within the first week of life. There is also a requirement to report maternal deaths or the death of a neonate within the first 6 days of life; our specialists can also support with a Coroner’s investigation and inquests.
You may, understandably, be feeling overwhelmed by this process whilst coming to terms with what has happened. If so, we’re here to help you understand the complex MNSI process and your contribution to it.
About RWK Goodman’s birth and maternal injuries team:
- We are nationally recognised specialists in birth injury cases and have recovered millions of pounds for hundreds of children who have suffered a brain injury as a result of negligent medical care.
- We will listen to your story and make ourselves available to suit you.
- We have supported many families through the MNSI (formally HSIB) investigation process.
- We have specialist insight into the Care Quality Commission’s investigative processes. We know what is required to achieve the best outcome.
Call for free advice relating to an MNSI investigation
An RWK Goodman client story.
On receiving our draft MNSI report, we really felt that our story had not been heard and that there were key elements missing. Kerstin was able to reassure us, and guide us through the process of giving feedback to the MNSI team.
This support ensured we felt able to raise our concerns regarding both the factual accuracy of our report, and the overall MNSI evidence gathering process.
The various different investigations actioned when our son died were complex and confusing (PMRT, MNSI, Inquest). Having a point of contact at RWK Goodman, who listened to our concerns and answered what felt like ‘silly’ questions, was a really important part of us coming to terms with what was happening and beginning to find a route through it where we felt in control.
Knowing that we had RWK Goodman to support with our queries and questions before posing them to the investigation team helped us to feel confident in our own lived experiences and most importantly, heard, within a system that can often feel unsupportive of grieving parents.
Kerstin always responded quickly to our questions by phone call or email, often emailing what we had discussed, so we didn’t need to try to remember. Having someone respond in a timely way when the investigations are so slow moving, was reassuring. It felt like things were no longer at a standstill and that our family had not been lost or forgotten in ‘the system’.
RWK Goodman’s team provided us with knowledgable, empathetic advice that supported us in feeling a bit more in control and giving us a little of our lost energy back.
Thank you as always for your ongoing support. We are very thankful to 2Wish for pointing us in your direction.
Find out more about the MNSI process.
If you’re looking to understand more about the MNSI process, make sure to read our guide which has answers to many common questions.
FAQs about the MNSI process.
If you consider any of the factual evidence you want to give is controversial or it seems to contradict the account of events given by staff then it may be sensible to seek legal advice early on. You will be sent a draft copy of the MNSI report to review before it is finalised; this will give the opportunity to raise any concerns that you have about its accuracy.
You may be concerned that the report will prejudice any later legal action you want to consider if you agree to its contents. If this is a real concern of yours then it would be important to seek the advice of your own independent solicitor.
The MNSI is not designed to apportion blame, it is more a fact-finding exercise in order to ascertain whether there are key types of failures in maternity care that would enable general learning and teaching of maternity staff to improve.
The views of the family are very much taken into account as are the accounts from the staff involved in the critical incident. The clear premise of these maternity investigations is to enable lessons to be learnt and allow for sharing of knowledge so that hopefully systems in place can change to prevent similar incidents recurring.
Families may wish to seek legal advice and general support from a specialist clinical negligence solicitor as part of this process, albeit that lawyers cannot be directly involved or contribute to the report.
If you wish to investigate a claim for damages for your child it is important to speak to a specialist birth injury solicitor. A solicitor will give you advice on funding options for bringing a claim and set out the key documentation and expert evidence that will be required.
The investigation into a civil claim for damages can take place concurrently with the MNSI and ENS processes. Lawyers for the ENS and the family frequently work together in trying to bring the case to a conclusion in respect of liability.
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