NHS Resolution 2018/19 Report - Clinical Negligence Claims Remain Steady Despite Rising Activity

Despite the Conservative government constantly pledging fresh funding and investment for the NHS, this nation’s public health service continues to struggle to cope with the demands placed upon it.

This issue has been covered by a new report commissioned by the NHS Providers, and it found that 91% of senior officials in the sector don’t feel that there hasn’t been enough public debate about the organisation’s short and long-term future. The report also revealed that public faith in the NHS would remain on the line for as long as patients and taxpayers are kept ill-informed about the true scale of the challenges that it faces.

However, there was some good news recently in the form of the Annual Report and Accounts issued by the NHS for 2018/19, which found that clinical negligence claims remained steady during this period despite increased activity. We’ll delve deeper into this below, whilst asking why claims have declined nationwide.

What are the Report’s Key Takeaways?

The report found that the number of claims entering formal litigation has remained relatively consistent in recent times, and indeed over the course of the last decade.

Despite this, the level of activity in the NHS has increased during the same period, which means that the number of NHS claims going to court is continuing to fall as a proportion of completed treatment episodes.

The reason for this is simple; as the NHS is now mediating more clinical negligence cases than ever before, with those that are settled outside of court outnumbering those that progress to trial by a ratio of 6:1.

This is part of a clearly defined strategy, which strives to disrupt the traditional approach to handling clinical negligence claims by encouraging mediation.

The NHS is also leveraging other forms of alternative dispute resolution (ADR) to reduce the number of claims entering formal court proceedings, in order to reduce the costs borne by the public health sector and the burden placed on patients during drawn-out legal cases.

The recent results clearly highlight the success of this strategy, which also sees the NHS work more closely with system partners in health and justice organisations.

Why There’s More Work to be Done in This Space

Despite these successes, the report has also revealed concerns surrounding the rising costs and the need for concerted action to ensure that clinical negligence costs continue on a downward trajectory.

More specifically, it drew attention to the real costs of harm of £9 billion a year, compared to the actual cash cost of just £2.4 million. This is an important observation, and one that highlights the challenge of improving both proactive patient safety strategies and legal dispute processes.

Ultimately, it’s important that the NHS and the government strive to build upon the successes revealed in this report in the future, particularly against the backdrop of Brexit and the potential for a UK recession.