Asked by: Nicola Richards (Conservative - West Bromwich East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 23 September 2020 to Question 91196 on NHS: negligence, what the steps the Government has taken to ensure that the claims and court process take into account the context of NHS staff working during the covid-19 outbreak.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
We are committed to ensuring National Health Service staff have the support and resources they need to respond to the pandemic.
On 2 April, changes were announced to rules of court which gives guidance to judges to take into account the effect of COVID-19 when considering applications for extensions of time and adjournments in current cases. More information is available at the following link:
Asked by: Nicola Richards (Conservative - West Bromwich East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent assessment he has made of the effect of section 2(4) of the Law Reform (Personal Injuries) Act 1948 on the annual cost of clinical negligence claims against NHS England.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
The costs of clinical negligence have been rising over several years at an unsustainable rate, eating into resources available for frontline care. This is despite our substantial safety programmes.
The Department is working with the Ministry of Justice, other Government departments and NHS Resolution, looking at a wide range of options to address the drivers of cost of clinical negligence claims, which includes the effect of section 2(4) of the Law Reform (Personal Injuries) Act 1948. This is a complex issue and the work is ongoing. We will update the House in due course.
Asked by: Nicola Richards (Conservative - West Bromwich East)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment his Department has made of the potential effect on the level of clinical negligence claims against the NHS of incidents that have occurred during its response to the covid-19 outbreak; and what plans he has to support frontline NHS staff in relation to the emotional consequences of prolonged litigation.
Answered by Nadine Dorries
We are committed to ensuring National Health Service staff have the support and resources they need to respond to the pandemic. We established the Clinical Negligence Scheme for COVID-19 to handle pandemic claims not falling under existing indemnity schemes and we communicated these plans in a letter of 2 April to NHS staff and providers. We have also taken steps, working with the NHS, professional regulators and across Government to ensure that claims, complaints and court processes can appropriately take into account the unprecedented context NHS staff are working within in response to COVID-19.
Clinical negligence claims tend to lag incidents substantially and it will be some months or even years before we can begin to assess the impact of COVID-19 on clinical negligence claims. We and NHS Resolution, the body responsible for handling clinical negligence claims on behalf of NHS organisations and independent sector providers of NHS care in England, will continue to monitor this.
NHS employers, like other employers, have a moral and statutory duty to support their staff. Every employer in the NHS makes available occupational health and wellbeing support for their staff.