General Practitioners

(asked on 6th December 2016) - View Source

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, pursuant to the Answer of 14 November 2016 to Question 52227, whether the level of reported incidents has increased in the last five years.


Answered by
 Portrait
David Mowat
This question was answered on 13th December 2016

Clinical negligence cases in primary care are dealt with by the Medical Defence Organisations – private, not-for profit mutual organisations who manage claims on behalf of their general practice (GP) members. The Department does not hold information about the level of clinical negligence claims or incidents involving GPs.

The Medical Defence Organisations have been vocal about the increases in costs of clinical negligence in primary care, and state that one of the drivers of these costs is an increase in the volume of claims being brought – however they have not published data relating to the actual number of claims and incidents.

A large number of claims (c. 80% according to the Medical Defence Union) are successfully rebutted by the Medical Defence Organisations, so an increasing volume of claims is not indicative of a rise in a number of actual incidents of negligence.

My Rt. hon. Friend the Secretary of State held discussions with Ministerial colleagues about the increasing litigation fees in primary care, as part of the work on the GP Indemnity Review. These discussions will continue as the Department seeks to ensure that the costs of clinical negligence in primary care are managed.

Following the GP Indemnity Review, the Department and NHS England announced plans to support GP Practices in dealing with the increased fees. Measures already announced to support GPs include:

- A new GP indemnity support scheme will start in 2016-17 and provide a special payment to practices to offset indemnity inflation. The scheme will initially run for two years, when it will be reviewed.

- NHS England has established a winter indemnity scheme this year to reimburse the indemnity costs of GPs who are willing to work more out of hours sessions to deal with winter pressures.

- The 2016-17 contract already includes an additional £33 million specifically to reflect indemnity inflation rises in the last year.

The Department has also committed to further work to address the growing cost of claims – including the volume of claims. The Department recognises that longer term work is needed to address the root causes of the rising cost of clinical negligence, is incorporating this work into its core business, and will work with stakeholders to develop appropriate solutions in due course. As part of this, the Department is preparing to consult on a new Fixed Recoverable Costs Scheme that would limit recoverable legal costs in clinical negligence claims.

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