A coalition of organisations led by the NHS Confederation has called for urgent action to reduce the spiralling cost of medical negligence claims in England, after £1.7 billion was paid out last year alone.
In a letter to justice minister David Gauke, the organisations urged him to bring forward important reforms in the handling of clinical negligence claims.
It follows a change last year to the personal injury discount rate from 2.5% to -0.75%. This has pushed up compensation payments in personal injury cases where there is an element of future care costs and earnings, NHS Confederation said in a statement on the letter to Gauke.
“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,” according to the letter.
“This is money that could be spent on frontline care. Given the wider pressures on the healthcare system, the rising cost of clinical negligence is already having an impact on what the NHS can provide.”
On average, a frontline hospital will pay around 2% of its income on clinical negligence claims every year. “The value of claims in the pipeline stands at a staggering £65 billion,” NHS Confederation said in its statement.
NHS Confederation coordinated the letter, which was signed by the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges, British Medical Association, Family Doctors Association, Medical Protection Society, Medical Defence Union (MDU) and the Medical and Dental Defence Union of Scotland.
The organisations went on to say in the letter: “We welcome the decision made by the Ministry of Justice to develop and consult on proposals to reform the discount rate. These would help to make sure that the rate more accurately reflects the way in which most claimants choose to invest their compensation payments. They would help to create a fairer system for all concerned.”
“It is vital that these changes are brought in as quickly as possible, either as part of the Civil Liability Bill or through a single purpose bill.”
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 yet-to-be-published Civil Liability Bill is not expected to be considered for passage into law until October. Draft legislation on setting the personal injury discount rate is still being scrutinised.
Clinical negligence remains a controversial and much-d