NHS: Clinical Negligence

Lord Phillips of Sudbury Excerpts

Tuesday 20th January 2015 Lords Chamber

[Earl Howe]

The noble Lord makes a series of good points. He may be interested to know that part of the series of pledges that form the Sign up to Safety campaign, which hospitals can apply for, can include the principles of being transparent with people—including about any mistakes that have been made and what is being done to tackle safety issues—and collaboration, by taking a leading role in supporting local collaborative learning, so that the system genuinely can work together and learn together.

[Lord Phillips of Sudbury (LD)]

My Lords, is my noble friend satisfied—I am thinking, for example, of the scandal of whiplash claims—that the legal resources available to the NHS are sufficient for the task?

[Earl Howe]

Yes, my Lords, we are satisfied that the NHSLA does a very good job. Indeed, about half the claims it receives are rejected and it contests robustly any claims that are ill founded.