Clinical negligence claims against the NHS are falling as a proportion of the number of treatment episodes, but concerns remain about rising costs, according to NHS Resolution’s annual report and accounts.
NHS Resolution’s annual report and accounts for 2018/19, published earlier this month, show that:
- The provision for claims indemnified has increased by £6.4 billion to £83.4 billion as of 31 March 2019
- 10,678 new clinical negligence claims were received, compared to 10,673 in 2017/18 an increase of just five claims (0.08%)—a flattening out in an environment of rising NHS activity
- The number of new non-clinical claims, typically employers’ and public liability claims, rose from 3,570 received in 2017/18 to 3,585 in 2018/19, a modest increase of 0.42%
- When considering settled claims in 2018/19 of 11,417 clinical and 4,237 non-clinical claims, the proportion settled without damages was 44% and 56%, respectively
- The number of mediations on clinical negligence claims has increased by 119% in a single year, up to 380 from 173 in 2017/18—exceeding the number of clinical negligence trials (62) more than six-fold
- The number of new referrals received by the practitioner performance advice team on the performance of doctors, dentists and pharmacists within the NHS remained broadly consistent, with 925 new requests for advice compared to 919 in the previous year
- The primary care appeals team received 171 appeals in accordance with the Pharmacy Regulations compared to 170 in the last financial year
NHS Resolution explained in a blog post on the annual report that “there is encouraging news with evidence of an increased engagement with ways to resolve concerns which keep patients and NHS staff out of court, accompanied by a welcome reduction in legal costs”.
“The number of cases going into formal litigation has remained stubbornly more or less the same for well over a decade. We have been on a mission to change that. We set ourselves a challenge to disrupt the traditional approach taken to clinical negligence claims, to encourage mediation and other forms of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) and to reduce the number of claims going into formal court proceedings.”
NHS Resolution continued: “There has been a noticeable culture shift in the clinical negligence market. We are now mediating more clinical negligence cases than ever before and these outnumber those going to