‘Cut payouts for blunders or the NHS will go bust’

‘Staggering’ cost of negligence compensation is bankrupting us, leaders of the health service warn

VICTIMS of NHS blunders should receive smaller compensation payouts or the “staggering” costs of negligence bills will bankrupt the health service, the Justice Secretary has been told.

Health service leaders have written to the Government calling for cuts to payments for patients who suffer devastating injuries as a result of medical errors. It follows years of rising negligence payments, with liability – the cost if all current claims were successful – at £65billion, up from £29billion in 2014-15.

The leaders of the NHS Confederation, the British Medical Assocation and the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges said changes in the law had had a “disastrous effect” by inflating payouts to those who had come to harm.

They have written to David Gauke, the Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, calling for changes to the way in which such bills are calculated under the current law.

In a separate article in today’s Daily Telegraph, they said that even if the Government spent an extra £5billion a year on the NHS, in line with demands from Boris Johnson, it would take 13 years and every penny of those funds to pay off current liability bills.

Niall Dickson, the chief executive of the NHS Confederation, said: “We fully accept there must be reasonable compensation for patients harmed through clinical negligence. Yet this must be balanced against society’s ability to pay.

“This is money that could be spent on frontline care: the rising cost of clinical negligence is already having an im- pact on what the NHS can provide.” The letter says negligence payouts have almost doubled since 2011, leaving the NHS facing “unsustainable” costs.

The senior figures called for “fundamental reform” of the legal system, saying doctors were practising defensive medicine – subjecting patients to needless tests and investigations – because they were “frightened of being sued”.

The letter, signed by medical defence societies, which represent doctors accused of malpractice, raises concerns about a change in the calculation of payouts which increased the rates.

The first case settled under the rules meant an NHS trust trebled its payment to a 10-year-old girl who was left with cerebral palsy after errors during her delivery at Royal Blackburn Hospital. The new payment formula assumes far lower interest on lump-sum payments than in the past. In the case, East Lancashire Hospitals trust paid £9.3 million in compensation, instead of £3.8 million.

The group is also calling for “more fundamental reforms”, including the introduction of fixed-costs schemes for claims up to £250,000. Current government proposals only suggest caps on claims up to the value of £25,000.

Ministers say changes are needed to cut spending on lawyers, whose costs account for 37 per cent of payouts for clinical negligence. In some cases, lawyers have charged more than 80 times the amount awarded to victims in minor claims, with one claiming £83,000 in legal costs for a case in which the patient was awarded £1,000.

However, patient-safety campaigners said the measures were “crude and heartless”, claiming the most vulnerable people in society would find no lawyer prepared to represent them if costs were capped in this way. The charity

Action against Medical Accidents said NHS blunders that left babies stillborn, or resulted in the deaths of vulnerable people, would be “brushed under the carpet” because lawyers would no longer take on the cases. Concerns were also raised by the Patients Association and birth injury charities.

Steve Webber, of the Society of Clinical Injury Lawyers, said the key to reducing the cost of clinical negligence was “to learn from and not repeat errors”. He said: “Over half of the cost of clinical negligence litigation arises from obstetric claims, but NHS Resolution reached the depressing conclusion there had been no improvement in care during that period.”

Today Jeremy Hunt will set out plans for expectant parents who suffer a stillbirth to be given new rights to certify and register their baby on official records.