If escalated negotiation fails to secure agreement, general condition 14 (GC14) of the NHS Standard Contract requires the parties to enter a mediation process. This involves the appointment of some external facilitation, which can either be provided by the regulatory bodies or the parties can appoint their own mediator(s).
It can be as simple as external facilitation or advice – the important thing is that both parties sign up to it! There are different types and styles, so think about what you need.
Bailey & Moore offer a full mediation service and will set out a tailored process that we feel will best suit the parties and the issues at hand. Fiona Moore is a mediator accredited by the Centre for Effective Dispute Resolution (CEDR) and has many years’ experience of using mediation to resolve disputes.
In our experience, it is essential to set out a detailed process, aims and principles… or you simply end up with another dispute. You also need to consider whether any agreement reached at mediation will be binding and not subject to appeal.
Bailey & Moore offer a “binding mediation” service, where we provide an expert determination at the end of the mediation process if you fail to agree. We find this very useful where clients want to kill off historic issues once and for all and move on.
Our process sets out:
- what is the dispute: £s and details
- date, time and location of the mediation meeting
- timescales for sharing papers
- whether there is a jointly appointed mediator or mediators for each party
- who attends from the organisations, including 3rd party advisors
- who are the decision-makers who can bind their organisation
- what papers will be included and maximum length of papers
- how papers should be shared (transparency)
- how the results will be written up
- what happens if agreement is reached – is it final and binding?