We have just received notification of another PR Category 4 result being reviewed up to a Category 3. Things are on a bit of a roll at the minute.
I am posting from afar today whilst delivering some in-house shouting (thats CPD training for the uninitiated) so a short post only.
After yesterdays gloom how about something decidedly more cheery in the form of another Peer Review category 2 result? What’s more it is their second so they are now competence plus in both of their contracted areas. Nice going. The recent run of results is distinctly encouraging.
I won’t spoil the mood by talking about international football.
With the most recent Peer Review appeal in first draft and sent to the clients for consideration a live result from another long standing client drops on my desk. The “Major Areas of Concern” section, around which the final gradation largely hangs, is of similar weight to that under appeal however this firm have got a, deserved, Threshold Competence (3) rating.
One appeal and two mainstream results in the last three days – the PR pace seems to be picking up again.
On the back of yesterdays Peer Review appeal success one of our oldest clients today report a Category 2 – Competence Plus score. See it’s not all bad news and misery here!
Whilst writing a set of Peer Review representations we are informed of our second successful result. I will be sitting in a cloud of Smug for the rest of the day.
The firm in question also received someone else’s result from the LSC.
With VHCC bidding deadline passed we return to the day-to-day grind. So yesterday was back to Peer Review training. In this context I did recently spot the long awaited Family: Improving your Quality Guide.
Happy reading.
On the same PR theme, and by way of balance, here is the LSC CE’s response, to recent criticisms of the scheme by the Reviewers themselves.
Quality for clients is as fundamental to legal aid reform as improving access and value
Sandra Dolly writes:
Independent Lawyer – July/August 2007 Issue – pages 8 & 9:
“Peer Reviewers are on the brink of revolt as they fear that the quality monitoring process has been ‘hijacked’ and that they are being ‘used’”.
DOH!
Is Peer Review beginning to fray at the edges. Remember where you heard it first.
On the back of the story below we received today a further Threshold Competent result from a disgruntled client, who was hoping for something higher. On the basis of the last two representations we have helped prepare the detail, scale and scope of the “Major Areas of Concern” would however, if consistently assessed, suggest a fail score. For our part, having seen the files in question, this is a fair although somewhat picky result.
