Medical Mediation

Building better dialogue between families and medical staff

Some of the most stressful times of people’s lives are spent dealing with medical emergencies.

People’s fear and upset can make it extremely difficult for them to know that they are making the right decisions about what is best for themselves or for a family member, and families and health professionals can come into conflict over crucial care decisions. Medical mediation is becoming increasingly recognised as a quick and highly-effective way to build dialogue between people, to head off disputes, and to restore trust.

Healthcare Mediation is used to address:

Communicating bad news more positively or effectively
Disagreements over critical care choices
Care not meeting expectations
Ethical issues regarding religious or cultural beliefs

Benefits of Medical Mediation services

People's relationships are preserved, improved, and future-proofed
Costly and time-consuming formal action is avoided
Difficult decisions can be reached amicably
Personal matters are kept private
The healthcare provider conforms to legislation

How does Healthcare Mediation work?

1. Referring a case

A completed referral form, providing us with details of the dispute and of the parties, and a signed booking form all are that is needed to book in the case.

2. Before the mediation

The case manager will liaise with the referrer to organise the logistics, including timings, contact information, and online links (if required).

3. Individual meetings

The mediator will meet with each party individually to discuss the dispute to date. These private sessions will last for approximately 1½ hours each.

4. Joint meeting

Getting parties together for half a day allows for a comprehensive airing of views, as well as a discussion with a view to building an agreement.

5. The agreement

The agreement is a joint plan of action decided upon by the participants. The mediator can write it up as a good faith agreement to give to both parties.

6. Feeding back

If there is a third-party referrer, UK Mediation will provide them with a Mediation Summary on the next working day (subject to parties’ consent).

7. Follow-up

The case manager will follow up the situation after an agreed period by contacting the parties confidentially to see if the agreement is working.

Medical mediation FAQs

We understand that you may have some queries about how our medical mediation services work.

We’ve answered some of the most Frequently Asked Questions below.

What sorts of disputes can medical mediation be used for?

Healthcare mediation can be used for conflicts over critical care choices or withdrawal of care, and is often taken up by healthcare professionals and families of patients.

It aims to restore dialogue, rebuild trust, and head off more formal processes.

Does medical mediation work?

Yes - we have been using mediation to help resolve medical disputes for over 23 years and have worked on some extremely high-profile cases during that time.

We have found that medical mediation is an excellent way to build understanding between the two sides, so that they can make a mutual agreement or decision on the best course of action.

How long does medical mediation take?

For healthcare disputes, we would recommend a full day's medical mediation service running from 9:30-4:30.

Can medical mediation be done online?

Yes, medical mediation can be delivered online. We continue to see excellent results from our medical mediation cases delivered via Zoom or Teams.

Is medical mediation confidential?

Yes, we ask parties to sign a Liability and Confidentiality Agreement on the day of the mediation, to make sure that whatever is said goes no further.

In addition, all notes related to the case are disposed of upon completion.

Is medical mediation voluntary?

Yes, people cannot be made to take part in medical mediation.

If parties are coerced or forced to take part on the day, we find that this often hinders the result of the mediation and makes it less likely to arrive at a successful conclusion.

What we will say, however, is that mediation is strongly recommended if things progress towards court action.

Can a solicitor attend the medical mediation?

It is strongly advised that parties attend on their own to promote honest and open communication.

Our relational model of mediation...

Here at UK Mediation, we treat conflict as a failure of dialogue and as a breakdown in a relationship.

Our relational model, re:talk, aims to restore dialogue, repair relationships, and rebuild teams, while re:connect allows us to achieve the same objectives through online mediation.

What our clients say

"Even though the two sides have had their differences, we are in complete agreement that the mediator was brilliant. We had an exchange of ideas and viewpoints and hopefully this is the start of getting towards a resolution. Thanks so much!"

Recent participant in a medical case

"An extremely sensitive subject was handled well by the mediator. I certainly feel that there is light at the end of the tunnel for the issues."

Recent participant in a medical case

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Want to find out more or get a quote from us?

We're a friendly bunch at UK Mediation and we're always happy to talk about our mediation services.

Please get in touch!

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