NHS: Negligence
(asked on 16th May 2018) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, in how many medical negligence claims against the NHS which were settled in the last five years legal proceedings were issued; and in how many such claims (a) damages payments were made, (b) the issue of proceedings has been required in order to obtain court approval of the settlement and (c) damages payments were not made.
NHS Resolution handles clinical negligence claims on behalf of National Health Service organisations and independent sector providers of NHS care in England.
NHS Resolution has provided the following information:
The following table shows the number of litigated clinical claims closed 2012/13 to 2016/17 as at the end of each respective closure year:
Year of Closure | With Damages | Nil Damages | Total |
2012/13 | 2,009 | 723 | 2,732 |
2013/14 | 2,202 | 740 | 2,942 |
2014/15 | 2,291 | 771 | 3,062 |
2015/16 | 2,514 | 797 | 3,311 |
2016/17 | 3,217 | 1,017 | 4,234 |
It is not possible to say which of these claims required court approval of the settlement, because NHS Resolution does not record this information in a way that can be easily or quickly extracted.