How we fund the products

From its inception in 1999 BOE has sought to provide all its products and services FREE of charge subject to contract. We do this by seeking a sponsor or advertiser to cover the cost of supply. Back in the late 90s and even today many directorates are not blessed with budgets to pay for the patient information and handbooks we can supply. Compared to many advertising mediums our products offer very little in terms of exposure for most types of business, but our patient information discharge cards do provide a target market for legal services seeking clients who may have suffered a personal injury. BOE has understood the sensitivity surrounding this type of sponsorship but we have always been very open about the fact that this type of marketing is the only way we can raise enough funding to provide our products FREE of charge.

In 2005 we conducted extensive research with the public, patients, nursing staff, management and clinicians regarding the source of funding for our products. Consequently we made the decision to stop raising the funds through solicitor advertising on the patient information cards and advertise our own patient centred service that put the patient’s needs first. We named our patient centred service ASYST. All the patient information cards we produce carry an array of advertisements promoting the various services ASYST can provide and we work together with each directorate to get the right balance of messages.

In this way, we provide patients with access to a call centre from which they can seek information on a whole range of matters. However, we still anticipate receiving enquiries from victims of personal injury which we pass on to our own panel of solicitors. Referral fees are then used to fund all the products, benefits and income supplied to the Trust. As a further protection for patients every case that is rejected by our initial solicitor panel are looked at again by another specialist panel of solicitors, who find that some patient claims may not be straight forward but warrant special attention.

Since the beginning of the millennium BOE has utilised this method of funding to produce:

• over 25 MILLION patient information cards/leaflets
• over 23 THOUSAND bespoke handbooks
• over £1.3 MILLION in cheque payments

Overall this represents a combined saving for all the NHS Trusts that have engaged our services of
£ 9.2 Million

• Asyst is a FREE help and advice line
• Asyst is the pathway to clear, independent legal advice relating to personal injury
• Asyst is patient driven, the patient has to make contact to get the help and advice
• Income generated by the Asyst scheme is then used to fund BOE Medical Publishing
• Asyst is regulated by the Ministry of Justice in respect of Claims Management activities, Registration No. CRM1738

ASYST - How the Process Works

Asyst is a patient driven service that requires patients to make the first approach by e-mail or phone in response to marketing messages carried on the patient information leaflets. When a patient contacts the call centre they are taken through a screening process that establishes the reason for their call. If the patient calling requires general information such as advice about rehabilitation, counselling, home help, transport to or from the hospital, to name but a few examples, then the ASYST call handler will find the necessary contacts and numbers for the caller. We have developed links with some of the UK’s leading providers of rehabilitation services so that we can pass on details of locally based professionals.

If the caller requires advice about making a personal injury claim the ASYST call handler will discuss the process with them and take down the necessary details. This information is then passed on to one of our panel solicitors who will then make direct contact with them to offer advice. We expect the solicitors to meet our strict requirements, ensuring only genuine victims are processed and a swift and professional service provided. Should the patient’s claim not be taken forward by the initial solicitor contacted we will seek a second opinion before a final decision is made.

If a call is received by somebody wishing to make a complaint against a Trust, hospital or member of NHS staff we advise them to contact the Patient Advice Liaison Service (PALS) as directed by NHS policy. Any call that suggests it might lead to any type of litigation against a Trust or one of its employees will be directed in the same manner. We are a commercial organisation and the acquiring of personal injury claimants is an important part of our income generation. We do this by providing a scheme which allows the patients to use a service which gives them professional dedicated attention but uses the income gained to support their local hospital and save the NHS in general millions of pounds.

Regulation and BOE

By 2005 aggressive marketing tactics employed by the likes of Claims Direct and The Accident Group were commonplace, exemplified by their TV advertising campaigns. This led to many individual solicitors targeting people who might have a personal injury claim. Hospitals and BOE both were blighted by the unscrupulous who, unsolicited, approached patients in Emergency department waiting areas or accosted them when they left. They would constantly litter departments with their advertising leaflets and we found our discharge cards being replaced with their own. BOE was forced to take out several injunctions at a cost exceeding £20,000 to prevent these companies removing our cards and replacing them with their own.

Ultimately the whole sector was brought into disrepute and culminating in the demise of The Accident Group and Claims Direct.

These actions did not go unnoticed and were highlighted by The Better Regulation Task Force in their 2004 report - Better Routes to Redress. One of the many recommendations to come out of this report was advice to the government to regulate the claims management sector. Because BOE was involved with over 50% of Trusts we were invited by the Department of Health to report on all types of advertising and sponsorship across all sectors of the NHS. We delivered our report to the Department of Health on the 29th June 2005 in a meeting at Richmond House, Whitehall. In attendance from the DoH were Tim Baxter and Jennifer Mason and we were also joined by Kevin Rousell and Rita Khan from the, then, Department for Constitutional Affairs (renamed Ministry of Justice). As a result of our informed opinion we were invited to address a Regulatory Consultative Group meeting and thereafter regularly attended their meetings.

The purpose of the group was to assist and advise the DCA as they constructed the framework of a new Bill of Law for Parliament which became known as The Compensation Bill, 2007.

BOE worked very closely with the Monitoring and Compliance Unit commissioned by the DCA to monitor the activities of claims management companies operating in and around hospitals. Over a period of 2 years BOE representatives, working in unison with all our contracted Trusts nationally, were able to supply enough evidence to show the extent of the problem faced by hospitals from claims management companies and solicitors who just left their advertising material in hospitals without any prior permission. Consequently when the Bill passed through Parliament in February 2007 this practice became illegal and the Monitoring and Compliance Unit were able to target the main protagonists straight away.

By the winter of 2007 the practice of unauthorised leafleting in medical establishment was virtually non-existent.

As a recognised stakeholder the input from BOE ensured that the new Bill outlawed advertising in medical establishments without prior written authorisation.