Healthcare Inspectorate Wales (HIW) has launched a public consultation on its draft strategy for 2026-30. The strategy sets out HIW’s intended direction over the next five years, building upon insights gained from its activities since 2022 and incorporating feedback from healthcare users and providers. The consultation seeks views from professionals, service users, and the general public to ensure the strategy aligns with the evolving needs and priorities of people in Wales. The consultation will run until 1 December 2025.

MLex has reported that Italian healthcare provider Azienda Sanitaria Universitaria Friuli Centrale has been fined €70,000 by the Italian Data Protection Authority (DPA) for violating the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, Regulation (EU) 2016/679 (EU GDPR). The case related to unauthorised access to a patient's file by two of the company's employees who were not involved in the treatment, the DPA said. Following the investigation, the DPA found that the entire medical staff could view all patient files without any restriction. This was a failure to regulate employees' access to patient data, the DPA said.

ARCHIVED: This Practice Note has been archived and is not maintained. The Health and Care Act 2022 was passed on 28 April 2022 and key provisions relating to Integrated Care came into force on 1 July 2022. For further reading see News Analyses: Integrated Care Systems: practical steps for 1 July 2022, Transitioning to April—provider collaborative guidance issued and Making provider collaboratives work—a little less conversation a little more (integrated) action. Key healthcare bodies in England Body Role Regulators Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and Secretary of State for Health and Social Care A Ministerial Department which also supports 14 Arms Length Bodies and a number of other Executive Agencies and Non-Departmental Public Bodies. In general, the DH provides:• direction for the National Health Service (NHS) and also the wider healthcare system • stewards the health and care system so it is delivering the right things for patients, service users and the public • creates national policies and influences global leadership in health and care policy • provides leadership around

Healthwatch has published a report on how as many as 1.5 million disabled people in England are not getting the social care they need and are eligible for. Healthwatch has recommended that the government funds local authorities to raise public awareness of social care and improve access to social care services. Healthwatch has also urged the government to carry out long-term and funded reforms in the social care sector.

A round-up of the latest health and safety prosecutions, including a tyre firm being fined after a worker was drawn into a machine.

A round-up of the latest health and safety prosecutions, including a chemical company fined after an agency worker suffered chemical burns from corrosive drain un-blocker.

A round-up of the latest health and safety prosecutions, including a farmer who received a suspended prison sentence after a worker fell to his death.

A hearing is a scheduled court or tribunal sitting at which a judge, sheriff or panel receives legal argument, manages the case, takes evidence, and makes orders or determines issues. It is a descriptive procedural term used across civil, criminal, family and tribunal proceedings. In England and Wales, the Civil Procedure Rules define a hearing to include a trial and to take place in public or private; comparable usage appears in Northern Ireland and Ireland under their court rules. In Scotland, the term is used alongside specific diets: a proof (evidential hearing), a debate (legal submissions only), and procedural diets.Common types include directions or case management hearings, applications/motions, interim relief hearings, substantive hearings/trials, and appeal hearings. Hearings may be in person, remote or hybrid. Open justice generally requires public hearings, subject to statutory or rule-based exceptions (for example, family or youth cases, confidentiality, national security).Key features include listing and notice, the right to be heard (fair procedures), oral advocacy, witness examination and cross‑examination where evidence is taken, and the creation of a record or transcript. Outcomes range from interlocutory directions to final judgments or orders; matters may be adjourned or part‑heard as required.

The principal function of the Hearings Committee is to review rulings of the Executive. The Hearings Committee also hears disciplinary proceedings instituted by the Executive when the Executive considers that there has been a breach of the Code. See Sections 4(c) and 7 of the Introduction to the Code.

Employment analysis: A hearing to determine an application for interim relief in an unfair dismissal claim involves the determination of a ‘preliminary issue’ for the purposes of Rule 53(3) of the Employment Tribunal Rules of Procedure (the ET Rules) and should therefore be conducted in public unless there are grounds for all or part of the hearing to be conducted in private under either Rule 50 (privacy and restrictions on disclosure) or Rule 94 (national security proceedings), according to the EAT.

This Practice Note explains hearsay evidence, including its meaning, use and rules relating to specific types of documents, including those documents exempt from the hearsay rule. The notice procedure required if planning to use hearsay evidence, and what to do if served with a hearsay notice under Rule 33.2 of the CPR, are set out. The court’s approach to hearsay evidence, including the weight to be given to hearsay evidence is considered, together with the extent to which cross-examination of hearsay evidence is allowed under Rule 33.4. The issue of admitting similar fact evidence at trials is considered. What is hearsay evidence? A hearsay statement is ‘a statement made otherwise than by a person while giving oral evidence in proceedings which is tendered as evidence of the matters stated’, defined in both CEA 1995, s 1(2) and CPR 33.1. Examples of hearsay evidence include: • A gives evidence by way of witness statement rather than attending trial to give evidence orally (thereby depriving the other parties of being able to cross-examine)

Restructuring & Insolvency analysis: The court decided it was appropriate to allow into evidence and the trial bundle (i) a hearsay statement from a witness who had provided a ‘thin’ explanation for non-attendance; and (ii) certain notarial records, both of which had only come into the Trustee’s possession recently. The judgment reiterates the generally permissive approach to be taken with regard to evidence in civil proceedings. The counterbalance to the generally permissive approach is that issues of what weight (if any) are to be left until trial, subject to (i) there being a good reason why the evidence was not produced on time; and (ii) the evidence appearing to be relevant. Unsurprisingly, it also appears to be inherent in Mrs Justice Falk’s decision that the issue of prejudice (in the sense of the opposing party being able to deal with new/late evidence) will also be a factor that will guide such decisions. Written by Samuel Parsons, barrister at Erskine Chambers.