Kathryn is a Partner at Sintons and specialises in Healthcare and Faith Based Institution law. She has been practising as a solicitor for over 25 years.

Kathryn advises NHS Trusts on all aspects of medical law and ethics arising from patient care. She represents NHS Trust’s and their employees at Inquests, and in Court of Protection and Inherent Jurisdiction proceedings.

Experience:

• Extensive expertise in representing NHS Trusts in Court of Protection, Inherent Jurisdiction and Family Division proceedings involving serious medical treatment and other complex health and welfare issues, including urgent and out of hours applications
• Advising on the application of the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) and Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) in hospital and community settings including capacity assessments, ‘best interests’ decisions, use of restraint, LPAs, advance decisions, and the interface between the MCA and Mental Health legislation
• Chairing the MCA Steering Group at a large NHS Trust – providing legal advice on the implementation of MCA in an acute hospital setting, including advice on upcoming Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS)
• Advising on medical treatment decisions, including consent to treatment, refusal of treatment, end of life decisions, withdrawal/withholding of life sustaining treatment, disputes about best interests, and finely balanced ethical dilemmas
• Provision of emergency and out of hours advice to NHS Trusts on urgent medical law issues including issuing emergency medical treatment applications.
• Treatment of children and young people including the interface between Gillick Competence, MCA and the exercise of parental responsibility
• Advising on complex child and adult safeguarding concerns arising in hospital settings and supporting Trusts at local authority strategy meetings
• Running pro-bono legal literacy training sessions for Trust safeguarding teams – providing advice on a varied and complex range of legal issues arising from patient care
• Representing NHS Trusts and other health and social care providers in Coroner’s inquests including high profile media sensitive deaths, those involving allegations of neglect and gross negligence, complex Article 2 inquests, regulation 28 reports and jury inquests
• Advising on the drafting and updating of hospital policies and procedures.
• Operating an outsourced claims management service for a Hospital Trust in South of England; acting as a conduit between the Trust, NHS Resolution and panel solicitors and providing regular legal briefings to the Chief Executive
• Undertaking an independent investigation on behalf of an Ambulance Trust into complaints raised pursuant to the Trust’s Freedom to Speak Up Policy, including matters pertaining to patient safety.

Kathryn’s notable NHS Trust cases:

• Representing the Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust in the Supreme Court in an appeal concerning (1) the jurisdiction of the High Court to grant reporting restriction orders (RROs) providing for the anonymity of healthcare professionals involved in treating children involved in serious medical treatment cases; and (2) the circumstances under which such RROs should continue after the death of the child.
  • Abbasi & another v Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2021] EWHC 1699 (Fam)
  • Abbasi & another v Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust [2023] EWCA Civ 331
  • Abbasi and another (Respondents) v Newcastle upon Tyne Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (Appellant) – The Supreme Court
• Representing the Hospital Trust in longstanding Court of Protection proceedings involving the use covert administration of hormone replacement therapy to a young woman in a care home to treat primary ovarian insufficiency, contrary to her wishes and the wishes of her primary carer.
  • The Local Authority v A and B [2019] EWCOP68
  • A Local Authority v A and B [2020] EWCOP76
  • Re A (Covert Medication: Close Proceedings) [2022] EWCOP44
  • Re A (by her litigation friend, the Official Solicitor) [2024] EWCA Civ 572
• Acting in Inherent Jurisdiction proceedings seeking medical treatment orders enabling two child siblings with a life limiting condition to undergo transplantation. The need for the application arose from historic difficulties in obtaining parental consent for medical procedures. Also represented the Trust in concurrent care proceedings in the Family Court.
• Acting for the Hospital Trust treating a man with Type 1 diabetes who was assessed as lacking capacity to make decisions about his insulin treatment due to severe needle phobia which meant that he was unable to tolerate insulin injections or blood tests in any circumstances. The Court of Protection decided that it was not in the patient’s best interests to forcibly treat with injected insulin, acknowledging that the patient was likely to die from his untreated condition in a matter of months.
• Acting for a hospital trust in a series of Court of Protection applications seeking authorisation for the deprivation of liberty arising from the use of pre-hospital anaesthesia by its critical care ambulance team to convey patients with learning disability to hospital for necessary treatment, in circumstances where the patient was unwilling or unable to attend voluntarily.
• Acting in an emergency inherent jurisdiction application seeking authorisation for a child to undergo a life saving leg amputation in circumstances where there was no person or body with parental responsibility able to provide consent.
• Acting in an urgent Court of Protection application seeking authorisation for a young person with acute liver failure due to paracetamol overdose, to undergo a lifesaving liver transplant, opposed by her mother, without which she was likely to die within days.

Quotes:

Kathryn was ranked in the Legal 500 2027 Guide as a leading partner.

The Legal 500 2025 & 2026 Guides listed Kathryn as a Next Generation Partner

The Legal 500 2023 & 2024 Guides listed Kathryn as a key individual. The 2024 Guide added “Kathryn Riddell is a first-rate lawyer. She is knowledgeable and has outstanding judgment. She is a first rate forensic thinker, addressing the immediate issues and the issues and evidence that might be required down the line. She is client focused not just in the sense of ensuring the best case is argued, but conscious of reputational issues and the impact on the individuals who work in any organisation. Above all is her judgment which is remarkably accurate and sound.”

The Healthcare team was heralded by the Legal 500 as having “excellent knowledge of the healthcare sector, particularly dentists and GPs – it is considered one of the most knowledgeable firms in this sector in the North East”

The Healthcare team also won praise from the guide, being hailed as “a true leader in the healthcare field”.

The Chambers UK Guide described the Healthcare team as being “a great all-round firm who have the skills and people to provide support for all eventualities” One client noted: “They are very responsive to queries and give very balanced and sensible advice in terms that make sense.”

Client Quotes:

Kathryn was a calm, experienced, patient voice in a stressful situation. She was firm but friendly when keeping me on the right track, which can’t have been easy. Lightening fast response times, which is so important. Highly recommended.