Government Urged To Curb The Rising Costs Of Clinical Negligence Claims

The government is being urged to curb the rising costs of clinical negligence claims against the health service.

A coalition of organisations which represent the NHS and health professionals is calling for urgent action to reduce the £1.7 billion paid last year alone on medical negligence in England. The value of claims in the pipeline is a staggering £65 billion.

A decision by the last Lord Chancellor to change the way compensation claims are calculated has made the costs even higher.

The NHS Confederation, which represents organisations across the healthcare system, has co-ordinated a joint letter to David Gauke, the new Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, calling on him to bring forward important reforms in the handling of clinical negligence claims.

As well as the Confederation, the letter has been signed by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, British Medical Association, Family Doctors Association, Medical Protection Society, Medical Defence Union and the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland.

Niall Dickson, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said:

“The rising cost of clinical negligence is unsustainable and means that vast resources that could be used by the NHS are being diverted elsewhere.

“We fully accept that there must be reasonable compensation for patients harmed through clinical negligence, but this needs to be balanced against society’s ability to pay. Money that is used for this purpose cannot be spent on frontline care.

“The time for action is now. That is why at the NHS Confederation, we have joined forces with a range of interested organisations to urge the new Lord Chancellor to act.

“As a start we desperately need the Government to implement reforms to how compensation payments are calculated, this is needed following a decision made by his predecessor which has had the disastrous effect of further inflating awards.”