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Written question asked by John Baron (Conservative) on Tuesday, 22 October 2019, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 28 October 2019 (named day). It was answered by Nadine Dorries (Conservative) on Monday, 28 October 2019 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.

NHS: Legal Costs

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the effect of paying NHS lawyers regardless of case outcome on (a) incentivising deny-delay-defend behaviour, (b) prolonging indefensible cases and (c) rewarding poor assessment of case merits prior to litigation.

Answer

If the National Health Service gets something wrong and patients are harmed, it is quite right that the NHS is held to account. However, we are concerned about the rising cost associated with clinical negligence and is something we are taking very seriously.

NHS Resolution has a responsibility to settle justified claims fairly and promptly and defend unjustified claims to secure NHS resources. In doing so, NHS Resolution is committed to the use of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), including increasing its use of mediation, and consequently, the percentage of claims moving into formal litigation is the lowest it has ever been. In 2018/19, 70.7% of the 15,655 claims settled, both clinical and non-clinical negligence, were resolved with the use of ADR, without the cases going into formal court proceedings and, in these early stages, more cases are resolved without the payment of damages than with payment of damages.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
3593
Session
2019-19
Grouped for answer
Yes
Subjects
Legal costs NHS
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk