 | The NHS - at last an admission that clinical negligence claims are caused by poor care! |
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| Posted By : Bill On 18/02/2018 11:45:00 | |
| The NHS has placed yet another story in the news; “The government is to restrict lawyers by capping the costs that they can recover in clinical negligence cases.” A working group will discuss a cap on cases “worth” less than £25,000, and the Medical Protection Society hopes “to see a bolder decision …. with cases up to the value of £250,000.” Jeremy Hunt, the health and social care secretary said, interestingly “that the best way to cut negligence costs was ‘to reduce patient harm in the first place’” – at long last an open admission that clinical negligence claims are caused by poor care. They trot out, yet again, the example of “one instance”, where lawyers claimed £83,000 for a case in which the patient was awarded £1,000. I agree that that is outrageous, and of course they are right to condemn disproportionate costs. Oddly enough, I agree with what lies behind their publicity, although not with their approach. It applies to personal injury litigation as well as clinical negligence; in a society in which public money is getting more scarce, we may not be able to afford the Rolls Royce claims system that we’re used to. However, I would approach it differently. I would try to train staff so that mistakes are less common, and I would radically overhaul the litigation management. Part of the reason that costs are so high is that the NHSLA, as it was, litigated, in my experience, very badly. Of course, a real worry about a cap on costs is that, if they want to, the NHS litigation body can defend claims in a way that gets the claimant’s costs up to the cap very quickly, depriving them of the chance to present a good claim. An anecdotal example is the insistence on a medical report at the outset of every claim; that can cost thousands, whereas discussion between sensible claimant and defendant lawyers could plot a cheap and reasonable way forward. Considering that the NHSLA changed its title to NHS Resolution, you might think that they were pursuing ADR (which is what my suggestion is) vigorously – no sign yet. The working group will have representatives from the Department of Health and Social Care, the Civil Justice Council and the Ministry of Justice. It comes in response to a consultation on introducing the cap last year and was a key recommendation in a review of civil litigation costs by Lord Justice Jackson. Niall Dickson, chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said the announcement was “a step in the right direction”. He said resources were being diverted from the NHS. He added that the £25,000 limit was “a positive first step”. The cap includes a scheme designed to offer quicker access to compensation for families of children left severely brain damaged after birth. | |
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