Ashfords' Healthcare, Digital Health and Life Sciences Bulletin

The COVID-19 pandemic and measures introduced by the UK and other governments to contain the spread of coronavirus are obviously causing enormous dislocation and disruption to all businesses and public sector organisations. Our health and social care systems and supply chains are under enormous strain. In contrast to other employers, most health and social care providers are having to continue to deploy staff in high-risk environments or in other people’s homes. They are also urgently seeking to recruit new staff to meet the unprecedented pressures on the healthcare system from COVID-19 patients and to cover the absences of quarantined staff.

While some healthcare and life sciences companies which cannot contribute to the fight against COVID-19 are struggling to attract business and new funding, significant resources are being directed to digital health and medical devices companies with rapidly scalable propositions and biotech companies able to contribute to the search for new tests for the virus and antibodies and to research for new vaccines. All of these businesses, however, face significant challenges to maintaining business continuity and to running clinical trials.

We have over the last fortnight been approached for support or with discrete questions by many clients in the healthcare, digital health and life sciences sector trying to navigate a rapidly changing business and legal landscape and shape their response to this crisis. Ashfords' cross-disciplinary COVID-19 Working Group includes many lawyers with a focus on the sector. To assist our clients in the sector to keep track of the developments most relevant to them, we will be issuing a bi-monthly bulletin (of which this is the first) to collate the most relevant articles we have published and to signpost where further information and support can be found. Please see the articles below.

In the meantime, our thoughts go out to those who are helping patients and other vulnerable people through this crisis and to those who have lost colleagues and loved ones.

Articles of particular interest to Healthcare, Digital Health and Life Sciences organisations

• Health and safety and regulatory compliance
• Coronavirus disease, force majeure and frustration
• Common Employment Issues For The Care And Supported Living Sectors
• The Coronavirus Act 2020: Implications for the Health and Social Care Sector
• The impact of COVID-19 - how can goods, services and works be procured without undertaking a procurement process?
• Public sector required to provide unprecedented relief to suppliers during COVID-19 Pandemic
• Coronavirus and Data Protection. Business as Normal?

For more information on the article above please contact Jocelyn Ormond. If you are interested in receiving this sort of bulletin in the future please complete this form.