Clinical Negligence Claims: The Latest Verdict | Medical Negligence and Personal Injury Blog | Kingsley Napley

NHS Resolution (NHSR), the body which deal with legal claims against the NHS, has just published its annual report setting out the volumes of claims that have been resolved within the past year and it makes for very interesting reading.

It confirms that claims for clinical negligence are continuing to rise with a high proportion of pay-outs relating to problems with maternity care. Here, I look at some of the key points from the report which also deals with future strategy and apparent trends.

While there was a small increase in claim numbers (with 13,784 notified under clinical schemes), the vast majority of clinical matters (81 per cent) that were resolved did not require Court proceedings to be started. This is extremely positive for claimants and medical professionals alike, avoiding the challenges and stress that can follow from the Court process. It is evidence of a more collaborative approach between NHSR and claimant lawyers that has been developing in recent times. The report states that NHSR will ‘always continue to promote dispute resolution over litigation’.

Fifty claims actually reached trial, a reduction from 60 the previous year. Seventeen of the cases resulted in an award of damages. Clearly taking cases to trial remains risky and as seen in previous years, if a claimant reaches trial they generally have a one in three chance of success. The low success rate for claimants at this stage in litigation indicates that only the most heavily disputed cases go to trial. It remains the case that less than 0.4% of all clinical negligence cases go to trial.

The top four categories of clinical negligence claims contained no great surprises. These were; emergency medicine, obstetrics, orthopaedic surgery and general surgery.

6,573 claims were concluded with no payment of damages at all – indicating the difficulty of meeting the required standards to succeed in these types of cases.

Maternity claims

The team here at Kingsley Napley have been writing regularly about the challenges facing UK obstetric and maternity care. (Our full medical negligence blogs are available here). NHSR’s report revealed that obstetric claims accounted for only 13 percent of the volume of clinical claims (subject to an exclusion of GP claims). However, these cases made up a staggering 57 per cent of the overall value of claims. Birth injury cases can be both legally and medically complex, for example involving arguments about the impact of oxygen deprivation on a baby’s brain. Such claims can take many years to complete, not least because they often cannot be resolved without waiting to see how a child develops in order to assess their lifelong needs.

NHSR’s report reflects on their Early Notification Scheme (ENS) which proactively investigates specific brain injuries to determine whether negligence has caused harm and is designed to speed up investigations. The report states that the scheme is successfully achieving a reduction in the time between an incident occurring and an admission of liability being made. I would stress that it remains vital, in my view, for the families of affected children within the ENS scheme to obtain their own specialist legal advice in order to navigate the complexities and ensure the best possible outcomes. More information is available on our ENS webpage.

The report concludes that safety in maternity remains a ‘key focus’ going forwards.

GP claims

Claims resulting from General Practice incidents after 1 April 2019 increased by some 9 per cent. While we do not have a breakdown in terms of the types of cases being brought, the Kingsley Napley team have previously highlighted the challenges and concerns in relation to GP care in the new era of increased online and telephone consultations.  

Discount rate

The overall payments made in relation to the resolution of clinical claims in 2023 – 2024 amounted to £2,821.2 million.

The Ministry of Justice is currently reviewing the discount rate, which is the rate applied to amounts of compensation for future losses, allowing a value to be put on these sums in today’s terms. This is a recognition of the change in value of money over time and accounts for the interest that can be earned on sums invested. The discount rate is currently set at -0.25 per cent but is expected to increase. In turn, this is likely to decrease the overall sums paid out by NHSR although the full impact of the expected change of course remains to be seen.

If you are seeking advice about a claim for clinical negligence, please contact Kingsley Napley’s specialist team for a no obligation discussion.

Further information

If you have any questions, please contact James Bell in our Medical Negligence and Personal Injury team.

About the author

James Bell is the head of our Medical Negligence and Personal Injury practice and joined the firm in 2023 from Hodge, Jones & Allen. He has undertaken medical negligence and personal injury cases for over 30 years.