Helene Mulholland
Wednesday March 16, 2005

Prudent Claims is offering nurses £90 for bringing clients to its door. Last month, it placed an advert in a nursing trade journal, the Nursing Times, which urged accident and emergency staff to refer patients involved in road accidents in exchange for a fee.

The advertisement read: "A&E nurses. Earn more than £90 per hour. You will be asked to examine and fill in report forms for victims of personal injury."

Nurses who respond to the advert receive a letter in which they are invited to hand out the company's exercise sheets in A&E to injured patients, "especially victims of RTAs. If this results in a referral to Prudent Claims, PC will pay you."

Nurses are asked to fill in the full details of the patient's injuries, countersigned by the prospective plaintiff, raising concerns about patient confidentiality and the relationship of trust healthcare professionals are meant to foster with patients.

The Claims Standards Council, set up recently to introduce self-regulation for claims management companies, said the practice was not illegal but could cause ethical dilemmas for healthcare professionals.

The council has already received between 10 and 15 notifications of similar approaches by other claims companies.

Nurses are bound by a code of conduct and breaching the code is likely to lead to individuals being disciplined.

In a statement, Prudent Claims said: "We are not asking nurses to refer patients. This is a misrepresentation of the facts.

"We are asking them to give exercise advice sheets, which carry our details on the back. The £90 fee would be paid if the injured person is eventually examined by a nurse in his/her own time."

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