In this focused webinar, Mr Glenn Smith explores falls prevention and nursing liability, examining how failures in risk assessment, care planning, supervision, and documentation translate into breach, causation, and quantum in fall-related injury claims. Drawing on real-world experience and anonymised case examples, this session provides practical insight for solicitors handling hospital and care setting falls claims, where nursing evidence is central to liability.

Read the full medico-legal article here >

About the Speaker

Mr Glenn Smith, Advanced Nurse Practitioner

Mr Glenn Smith is an Advanced Nurse Practitioner and medico-legal expert with over 25 years of clinical experience across acute, mental health, and patient safety settings. He has been producing expert witness reports for the past six years and regularly provides expert evidence in fall-related clinical negligence claims, where nursing care and documentation are key.

He previously served as Patient Safety Lead for the Isle of Wight NHS Trust, with a significant focus on inpatient falls prevention, national falls audits, and organisational learning following serious incidents. He is also Clinical Director of Lighthouse Medical and sits on the NMC Test of Competence Assurance Advisory Group, placing him at the forefront of clinical standards and regulatory expectations.

Key areas of expertise include:

• Inpatient and care-home falls prevention
• Nursing standards and breach analysis
• Capacity, supervision, and deprivation of liberty issues
• Documentation quality and evidential reliability
• Post-fall management and organisational learning

Webinar Key Themes

During the session, Mr Glenn Smith explored the nursing standards and failures most commonly seen in fall-related clinical negligence claims, including:

• Falls risk assessment failures - where risks were underestimated, incomplete, or not revisited following clinical change

• Care planning and supervision errors - including inappropriate observation levels and poorly balanced risk versus independence

• Documentation gaps - where records fail to evidence decision-making, capacity assessment, or shared risk acceptance

• Interpretation of nursing evidence in litigation - how courts assess what was “reasonably practicable” rather than perfection

• Causation and outcomes - linking substandard nursing care to fractures, head injuries, and fatal consequences

Read the full medico-legal article here >