Medical Compensation Claims Against the NHS Increasing Sharply

Medical negligence is defined as ‘an act or omission by a health care provider in which the treatment provided falls below the accepted standard of practice in the medical community and causes injury or death to the patient’. Medical negligence cases can range from everything to surgery being performed on the wrong patient to leaving a foreign object (such as a medical instrument) in a patient after surgery.

Official figures released earlier this year have shown that the number of medical negligence compensation claims registered against the NHS has increased by almost 20 per cent in just one year (and by a staggering 80 per cent over the last five years).

The statistics, compiled by the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA), show that a total of 16,006 patients or bereaved relatives lodged claims against the NHS during 2012/13, compared with 13,517 the previous year: This constitutes a rise of 18.4 per cent. Using these figures as a basis, it has been estimated that the overall bill for clinical negligence claims will soon reach £19 billion – nearly a fifth of the total NHS budget.

Reaction to the figures has been forthright and controversial. Margaret Hodge, chairman of the Commons Public Accounts Committee said: ‘The trend is really concerning. Some of this is about ambulance-chasing lawyers, but more than that I think this reflects problems with the quality of healthcare, and that is a major concern.’

Katherine Murphy, chief executive of the Patients Association, had this to say: “I think the public has become far less tolerant about putting up with appalling failings in care, but most people only pursue legal action when every other avenue has failed.

She continued: ‘Most people who contact us say that all they wanted was an explanation of what went wrong, and changes made so that nobody else would suffer.’

Leading medical negligence lawyers have said they expect to see an ‘explosion’ in clinical negligence claims in future years. This claim comes hot on the heels of a public inquiry led by Robert Francis QC that looked into failings at a Mid Staffordshire Hospital Foundation trust where up to 1,200 more patients died than would have been expected.

Ian Pryer, senior partner at medical negligence solicitors Axiclaim commented: ‘In the past, victims of medical accidents often had moral reservations about claiming against the NHS, despite having clearly suffered extreme negligence in some cases but the shocking findings of the Francis report have now made hospitals fair game in the eyes of the public.’

A spokesman for the Department of Health said: “Whilst we know the vast majority of patients get good, safe care, the best way to reduce compensation claims is to improve patient safety further – and this is a priority.”

He also highlighted the fact that the NHS had brought in a global expert, Dr Don Berwick, to provide advice on how to create more of a ‘a zero-harm culture in the NHS.’