Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Part 8 bid to make private hospital contractually liable for consultants’ care fails: Bartolomucci v Circle Health Group [2025] EWHC 529 (KB), England and Wales

Published on: 01 April 2025

Published by a LexisNexis PI & Clinical Negligence expert

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Article summary

Bartolomucci (a protected party suing by his litigation friend James M Bartolomucci) v Circle Health Group Ltd [2025] EWHC 529 (KB) What are the practical implications of this case?

When you undergo private medical treatment in England and Wales, the usual position is that you sign a written agreement with the hospital, yet there is no easily identifiable written contract with the consultant surgeon or the anaesthetist. If a patient alleges harm caused by a substandard level of care by a consultant during a procedure at a private hospital (here, a consultant anaesthetist), the most obvious defendant is the consultant personally. The private hospital ought to have verified that such consultants carried appropriate insurance (as it did here), and regardless of whether a contract exists between patient and consultant, the consultant remains susceptible to a tort claim. But what if, as happened here, the anaesthetist’s indemnifier declines indemnity? The claimant commenced Part 8 proceedings against the private hospital, seeking declarations that the hospital, under its contract, assumed responsibility for providing the consultants’ services and was therefore contractually liable for any shortcomings in the consultants’ care. However, this is not how liability in private...

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