NHS Decision (NHSR), the physique which take care of authorized claims towards the NHS, has simply printed its annual report setting out the volumes of claims which have been resolved inside the previous yr and it makes for very fascinating studying.
It confirms that claims for scientific negligence are persevering with to rise with a excessive proportion of pay-outs referring to issues with maternity care. Right here, I take a look at a few of the key factors from the report which additionally offers with future technique and obvious tendencies.
Whereas there was a small enhance in declare numbers (with 13,784 notified underneath scientific schemes), the overwhelming majority of scientific issues (81 per cent) that have been resolved didn’t require Courtroom proceedings to be began. That is extraordinarily constructive for claimants and medical professionals alike, avoiding the challenges and stress that may observe from the Courtroom course of. It’s proof of a extra collaborative strategy between NHSR and claimant attorneys that has been creating in current occasions. The report states that NHSR will ‘all the time proceed to advertise dispute decision over litigation’.
Fifty claims really reached trial, a discount from 60 the earlier yr. Seventeen of the instances resulted in an award of damages. Clearly taking instances to trial stays dangerous and as seen in earlier years, if a claimant reaches trial they typically have a one in three likelihood of success. The low success charge for claimants at this stage in litigation signifies that solely probably the most closely disputed instances go to trial. It stays the case that lower than 0.4% of all scientific negligence instances go to trial.
The highest 4 classes of scientific negligence claims contained no nice surprises. These have been; emergency medication, obstetrics, orthopaedic surgical procedure and normal surgical procedure.
6,573 claims have been concluded with no cost of damages in any respect – indicating the problem of assembly the required requirements to achieve a lot of these instances.
Maternity claims
The crew right here at Kingsley Napley have been writing recurrently in regards to the challenges dealing with UK obstetric and maternity care. (Our full medical negligence blogs can be found right here). NHSR’s report revealed that obstetric claims accounted for less than 13 p.c of the quantity of scientific claims (topic to an exclusion of GP claims). Nevertheless, these instances made up a staggering 57 per cent of the general worth of claims. Beginning damage instances might be each legally and medically advanced, for instance involving arguments in regards to the influence of oxygen deprivation on a child’s mind. Such claims can take a few years to finish, not least as a result of they usually can’t be resolved with out ready to see how a baby develops with a view to assess their lifelong wants.
NHSR’s report displays on their Early Notification Scheme (ENS) which proactively investigates particular mind accidents to find out whether or not negligence has triggered hurt and is designed to hurry up investigations. The report states that the scheme is efficiently attaining a discount within the time between an incident occurring and an admission of legal responsibility being made. I might stress that it stays important, for my part, for the households of affected kids inside the ENS scheme to acquire their very own specialist authorized recommendation with a view to navigate the complexities and guarantee the absolute best outcomes. Extra info is on the market on our ENS webpage.
The report concludes that security in maternity stays a ‘key focus’ going forwards.
GP claims
Claims ensuing from Normal Follow incidents after 1 April 2019 elevated by some 9 per cent. Whereas we shouldn’t have a breakdown when it comes to the kinds of instances being introduced, the Kingsley Napley crew have beforehand highlighted the challenges and considerations in relation to GP care within the new period of elevated on-line and phone consultations.
Low cost charge
The general funds made in relation to the decision of scientific claims in 2023 – 2024 amounted to £2,821.2 million.
The Ministry of Justice is presently reviewing the low cost charge, which is the speed utilized to quantities of compensation for future losses, permitting a price to be placed on these sums in right this moment’s phrases. This can be a recognition of the change in worth of cash over time and accounts for the curiosity that may be earned on sums invested. The low cost charge is presently set at -0.25 per cent however is predicted to extend. In flip, that is prone to lower the general sums paid out by NHSR though the total influence of the anticipated change in fact stays to be seen.
If you’re looking for recommendation a couple of declare for scientific negligence, please contact Kingsley Napley’s specialist crew for a no obligation dialogue.
Additional info
In case you have any questions, please contact James Bell in our Medical Negligence and Private Damage crew.
In regards to the writer
James Bell is the top of our Medical Negligence and Private Damage observe and joined the agency in 2023 from Hodge, Jones & Allen. He has undertaken medical negligence and private damage instances for over 30 years.