Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps he has taken to ensure that claimant lawyers can continue to pursue low-value claims in clinical negligence cases in a fixed recoverable cost regime.
Answered by Ben Gummer
Admissions should be made and compensation paid to those who are entitled to it based on the evidence. The proposed scheme will also apply to defendants and incentives for early resolution are included in the consultation. NHS Litigation Authority data shows that on average clinical negligence claims resolve within 1.31 years of the claim being made, and those valued under £25,000 are resolved in less than 12 months.
Following the pre-consultation process, the Department is currently working with the Civil Procedure Rule Committee on the rules to support the Fixed Recoverable Cost work before an open public consultation is undertaken.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of claims management companies on the number of unmeritorious claims brought forward in clinical negligence cases.
Answered by Ben Gummer
The Department is working closely with stakeholders to develop the proposal to introduce fixed recoverable costs. We have undertaken a pre-consultation exercise with a number of key stakeholders, including representatives of claimant lawyers, and are planning an open public consultation shortly. We welcome views on the proposal from all sectors.
The consultation documentation, including the Impact Assessment, will be published in early 2016 subject to relevant Committee clearances. We are working upon the assumption that there is nothing about Fixed Recoverable Costs regime which will alter the percentage of unmeritorious claims.
Any scheme proposed will include consideration of the right incentives to support a fairer and quicker process that provides the improvements to the system whilst maintaining access to justice.
The NHS Litigation Authority reported in their annual report for 2014/15 that it resolves over 4,000 clinical negligence cases annually for no payment of damages and in 2014/15 it saved over £1.2 billion for the National Health Service in rejecting claims which had no merit.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the effect of introducing a fixed recoverable cost regime in clinical negligence cases on the number of claims brought by claims management companies and litigants in person.
Answered by Ben Gummer
The Department is working closely with stakeholders to develop the proposal to introduce fixed recoverable costs. We have undertaken a pre-consultation exercise with a number of key stakeholders, including representatives of claimant lawyers, and are planning an open public consultation shortly. We welcome views on the proposal from all sectors.
The consultation documentation, including the Impact Assessment, will be published in early 2016 subject to relevant Committee clearances. We are working upon the assumption that there is nothing about Fixed Recoverable Costs regime which will alter the percentage of unmeritorious claims.
Any scheme proposed will include consideration of the right incentives to support a fairer and quicker process that provides the improvements to the system whilst maintaining access to justice.
The NHS Litigation Authority reported in their annual report for 2014/15 that it resolves over 4,000 clinical negligence cases annually for no payment of damages and in 2014/15 it saved over £1.2 billion for the National Health Service in rejecting claims which had no merit.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the costs to his Department associated with unmeritorious claims resulting from changes to a fixed cost recoverable scheme for clinical negligence.
Answered by Ben Gummer
The Department is working closely with stakeholders to develop the proposal to introduce fixed recoverable costs. We have undertaken a pre-consultation exercise with a number of key stakeholders, including representatives of claimant lawyers, and are planning an open public consultation shortly. We welcome views on the proposal from all sectors.
The consultation documentation, including the Impact Assessment, will be published in early 2016 subject to relevant Committee clearances. We are working upon the assumption that there is nothing about Fixed Recoverable Costs regime which will alter the percentage of unmeritorious claims.
Any scheme proposed will include consideration of the right incentives to support a fairer and quicker process that provides the improvements to the system whilst maintaining access to justice.
The NHS Litigation Authority reported in their annual report for 2014/15 that it resolves over 4,000 clinical negligence cases annually for no payment of damages and in 2014/15 it saved over £1.2 billion for the National Health Service in rejecting claims which had no merit.
Asked by: Karl Turner (Labour - Kingston upon Hull East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what assessment he has made of the propriety of his Department overseeing the consultation on a fixed recoverable cost regime in clinical negligence cases when it is the defendant in most such cases.
Answered by Ben Gummer
The Department is working closely with stakeholders to develop the proposal to introduce fixed recoverable costs. We have undertaken a pre-consultation exercise with a number of key stakeholders, including representatives of claimant lawyers, and are planning an open public consultation shortly. We welcome views on the proposal from all sectors.
The consultation documentation, including the Impact Assessment, will be published in early 2016 subject to relevant Committee clearances. We are working upon the assumption that there is nothing about Fixed Recoverable Costs regime which will alter the percentage of unmeritorious claims.
Any scheme proposed will include consideration of the right incentives to support a fairer and quicker process that provides the improvements to the system whilst maintaining access to justice.
The NHS Litigation Authority reported in their annual report for 2014/15 that it resolves over 4,000 clinical negligence cases annually for no payment of damages and in 2014/15 it saved over £1.2 billion for the National Health Service in rejecting claims which had no merit.