Negligence costs continue to rise

Negligence costs continue to rise

The cost of clinical negligence claims increased again in 2017/18, even though NHS Resolution mediated more claims and saw a plateau in the number of new claims.

In its annual report, NHS Resolution said greater mediation of claims was accompanied by a reduction in claimant legal costs (down almost £32m). The 2017/18 financial year was the first in its five-year strategy that aims to resolve more cases and avoid litigation, while ensuring the NHS learns from clinical mistakes.

The NHS paid more than £1.6bn in clinical negligence damages – an increase of £550m (50%) on 2016/17. This was largely due to a change in the personal injury discount rate, used to calculate compensation. NHS Resolution attributed £404m of the rise in compensation payments to the change in the rate (from +2.5% to -0.75%). Legislation to address this is going through Parliament.

NHS Resolution chief executive Helen Vernon (pictured) said:

'The growing interest from our NHS members and those who act for injured patients in working together to resolve claims for compensation without going to court has been encouraging and we hope to build on this so that mediation is no longer seen as novel in healthcare. 

‘However, the cost of clinical negligence is at an all-time high. The total provisions for all of our indemnity schemes continue to rise, from £65bn last year to £77bn as of 31 March, which brings a renewed urgency to efforts across government to tackle the drivers of that cost.’