About the MORPH project

Management of Risks & Practice in Healthcare

A European Commission-funded Project to be carried out in four countries (Ireland, the UK, Bulgaria and Poland), providing data on current medico-legal and risk management practices. Its aims involve the identification of best practice and the provision of this information in a format that has the potential to reach its target audience. The Project will act as a benchmark of benefit and relevance for future studies on a wider European basis with the purpose of improving medical education and delivery of healthcare.

Target groups include: National Departments of Health who may be bearing the costs of medical indemnity, Medical Indemnity organisations, Healthcare Providers who are members of Indemnity organisations, Insurance Companies who provide cover to healthcare providers, Organisations such as Professional Colleges and Universities who offer training in the area of Healthcare Management, Healthcare providers who wish to manage their risks.

A questionnaire will be sent out to a representative cross-section of healthcare providers throughout the United Kingdom to obtain information on current medico-legal and risk management practices. The information will be analysed and collated in the form of a report. The report will endeavour to identify areas of good practice. Where good practice is identified, a minimum of four best practice healthcare organisations per participating country will be interviewed and the proceedings filmed. Case studies will be documented, describing how this best practice is applied. These procedures will take place in the four countries identified overleaf and the information obtained will be gathered into a comprehensive international report.

Though the project data has now been gathered, the MORPH quetionnaire is still available online for people to peruse if they wish.

MORPH will involve data collation and analysis which will be presented in the following forms:

• A Report on current practices in the UK, with examples of good practice
• A Project Report, containing details and analysis of data obtained in the four countries of the Project
• Display of the UK report on a dedicated Partner web site, linked to a Project web site containing the full report
• A multimedia product pack containing edited versions of interviews with instigators of good practice together with a case studies booklet and a self-assessment facility
• Video clips of interviews to be placed on the dedicated web site.

Those responsible for implementing good practice in medico-legal and risk management activities. The results will help those charged with improving training and the learning experience for and on behalf of health care provider organisations.

Recent research has identified a pan-European demand for a greater medico-legal awareness that will lead to implementation and compliance with best practice protocols. These protocols must be in line with human rights, EU and national legislation.

A number of key issues are addressed and are likely to be influenced by the outcomes of the Project, including:

• Improvement of delivery of healthcare
• Respect for human rights within both EU and national law
• Contribution to the general corpus of knowledge in the area of practical legal medicine and risk management application
• Establishing a Europe-wide template of good medical practice protocol.

It is anticipated that the MORPH results and deliverables will be incorporated into the training regimes of user groups. An increase in awareness amongst healthcare providers.

In the longer term the results should lead to a multi-fold effect including increased quality of healthcare delivery, a decrease in adverse incident occurrence, a decrease in levels of clinical negligence litigation and a reduction in medical indemnity costs.