MPs have joined APIL at a special drop-in event to mark the association’s annual Injury Awareness Week (23-27 June) which has been taken to Westminster for the first time.
Parliamentarians were invited to help highlight the impact of preventable injuries and the significance to injured individuals of being able to turn to the law on personal injury.
“APIL hosts Injury Awareness Week every year for the simple reason that nobody really thinks about what it means to be injured by negligence until it happens to them,” said Matthew Tuff, APIL’s president, who was on hand to greet MPs at Portcullis House on the parliamentary estate.
“We’ve used the time with MPs to tell them that injured people matter, and that their rights must be protected,” he said.
“Most people are fortunate enough to have no need for interaction with personal injury law. For a lot of people, the most they hear about PI is through insurance industry rhetoric, or the occasional sensational headline. This is why victims of negligence need an awareness week. The reality of what it means to be injured must be understood by both politicians and the public,” Matthew went on.
West Dunbartonshire MP Douglas McAllister hosted the event. He said: “Absolutely anybody can be injured by negligence, so we should all care what happens to the people who fall victim to it. My colleagues from Parliament who have dropped in to today’s session can take away a very important message – that injured people matter.”
Matthew Tuff added: “The ultimate goal in everything APIL does is to make sure injured people are at the heart of any policymaking relating to personal injury.
“The law is critical in supporting ordinary people whose lives are affected, sometimes catastrophically, by negligence which could and should have been avoided.”
Throughout the week APIL is sharing these messages and educational material on social media about the crucial difference between an accident which cannot be prevented, and negligence which causes needless harm.