HEALTHCARE: LAW, PRACTICE AND POLICY - 2025/6

Module Overview

Healthcare delivery is one of the most socially and politically sensitive issues in economically advanced societies, and the controversies which arise when it is defective, and in increasing its effectiveness, are important issues for the law.  This module examines the regulation of various important areas of healthcare, liability and litigation. The principal area will be clinical negligence liability and litigation, with the connected problems of causation and risk-warning. The other main area for examination will be the development of medical treatments through biomedical research and experimentation. Through an examination of cutting-edge medical technologies and contemporary issues in healthcare delivery, students on this module will critically evaluate how regulatory systems and institutions can accommodate both long-term and fast-paced technological and social change, respond to pressures and deliver intended outcomes while seeking to maintain public trust and confidence. This module addresses issues where law and medical practice interact which do not necessarily involve the same issues as those covered in Medical Law & Ethics.

Module provider

Surrey Law School

Module Leader

STARZA-ALLEN Antony (Law)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 6

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

Indicative content includes (subject to change): 

• Clinical negligence
• Regulating errors in healthcare treatment and delivery
• Assisted reproduction 
• New medical technologies, genetics and biotechnology 
• AI and healthcare
• Organ transplantation 
• Disease control, vaccination and public health

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

Written reflection (1000 words) in place of presentation for reassessment or adjustments.

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate:The assessment strategy is designed to provide students with the opportunity to demonstrate the ability to identify policy issues and the relevant law, analyse and apply the law and policy. Students should demonstrate the ability to draw appropriate conclusions, based upon their analysis of the issues raised by the questions. The law should be subjected to critical analysis and, where appropriate, its wider context should be considered. The assessment addresses all learning outcomes listed above.Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

• One presentation (worth 20% of the module mark) to be taken during the semester
• One 3,000-word coursework (worth 80% of the module mark) to be taken at the end of the semester.

Formative assessment and FeedbackThe presentation will receive detailed feedback, which may be provided in written or oral format. Informal formative assessment consisting of tutor and peer feedback is also conducted throughout the module during the tutorials and the interactive workshops, when students have the opportunity to engage in presenting their solutions to various issues.The assessment method for each module has been selected to test a variety of key skills, competences and outcomes as required by QAA. As such, assessment method cannot be changed. Reasonable adjustment may be made on application subject to ALS approval AND only where such adjustment still allows for the required skills, key competences and outcomes to be assessed at an equivalent level.

Module aims

• ¿ Give an opportunity for students to apply their understanding of the tort of negligence (and related torts) to one complex area of potential liability, with characteristic complexities of factual and theoretical causation
• Develop a critical understanding of the necessary issues in the establishment of liability for medical malpractice
• Understand and critically examine regulatory issues in healthcare and identify the conditions and requirements for effective regulation
• Foster a critical understanding of the policy and professional issues raised by the development of new and improved medical treatments by the processes of scientific research and the delivery of existing and innovative health management in the context of modern healthcare systems
• Identify and understand the underpinning social processes that inform law and legal reform in this area
• Draw on lessons from regulating healthcare in the UK for the regulatory governance of other emerging industries

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to ensure that students achieve the stated module learning outcomes and develop competencies through their learning that will enhance the University¿s core educational objectives of employability, digital capabilities, global and cultural intelligence, and resourcefulness and resilience.The learning and teaching methodology is designed around large group lectures, interactive workshops and small group tutorials. The lectures will introduce students to each topic, outlining applicable law, relevant practice issues and policy objectives. During the large group workshops, student will analyse, discuss and problem-solve issues raised by certain controversies that illustrate issues within the broader debate. The workshop will involve tasks such as presentations and debate. In small group tutorials, students will prepare for their assessment and develop their understanding on the topics chosen. Students will present their work in the form of a presentation, before completing an end-of-semester coursework.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: LAW3155

Other information

The School of Law is committed to developing graduates with strengths in Employability, Digital Capabilities, Global and Cultural Capabilities, Sustainability and Resourcefulness and Resilience. This module is designed to allow students to develop knowledge, skills and capabilities in the following areas:

Employability: Students develop important transferable skills through learning opportunities provided by this module, and also important substantive knowledge of the processes which affect the development and application of the law in a socially and politically important and controversial area.

Digital Capabilities: This module fosters students¿ critical understanding of the impact of technological development on both the creation and the delivery of advanced healthcare interventions.

Global and Cultural Capabilities: The module raises students¿ awareness of global and cultural issues through the examination of different cultural expectations of the delivery of health care, and the potential and historic issues raised by the global nature of health care development, involving the use of research carried out on less developed communities for the benefit of more developed communities, and the concentration of research on the management of the diseases of the rich. 

Sustainability: This module challenges students to think about the costs and benefits of the development of advanced health care, and how we promote the wellbeing of present and future generations by the scientific and commercial process of treatment innovation.

Resourcefulness and Resilience: The module structure, methodology and assessment are designed to develop resourcefulness and resilience through active participation when working in groups and contributing to discussions on a range of potentially sensitive issues concerning the social, economic and political pressures on the satisfactory development and delivery of health care.

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2025/6 academic year.