NHS medical negligence liabilities hit £58.2bn amid calls to enhance affected person security | NHS

The NHS’s complete liabilities for medical negligence have hit an “astounding” £58.2bn amid ministers’ failure to enhance affected person security, an influential group of MPs have warned.

The Commons public accounts committee (PAC) mentioned the “jaw-dropping” sums being paid to victims of botched remedy and authorities inaction to cut back errors have been “unacceptable”.

The Division of Well being and Social Care (DHSC) has put aside £58.2bn to settle lawsuits arising from medical negligence that occurred in England earlier than 1 April 2024, the PAC disclosed.

The sum is so large that it’s the second-largest legal responsibility throughout the entire of presidency, with solely nuclear decommissioning costlier, the committee mentioned in a damning report.

“The truth that authorities has put aside tens of billions of kilos for medical negligence funds, its second most expensive legal responsibility after a number of the world’s most advanced nuclear decommissioning initiatives, ought to give our complete society pause,” mentioned Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, the PAC chair.

“It is a signal of a system struggling to do proper by the folks it’s designed to assist,” he added.

The PAC urged ministers to take pressing steps to cut back “tragic incidences of affected person hurt” and to additionally finish a scenario the place legal professionals take an “astronomical” 19% of the compensation awarded to those that are profitable in suing the NHS. That amounted to £536m of the £2.8bn that the well being service in England paid out in damages in 2023-24 – its document invoice for errors.

“Far too many sufferers nonetheless endure medical negligence which might trigger devastating hurt to these affected,” and the following damages drain very important funds from the NHS, the report mentioned.

A DHSC supply accepted the PAC’s findings, saying: “The price of medical negligence claims is rising at an unsustainable fee, consuming into assets out there for frontline care. Annual money funds have greater than doubled within the final 10 years and quadrupled previously 17 years to £2.8bn.”

The PAC criticised the division for not but having defined why affected person hurt happens and devised a method to overtake affected person security, regardless of the committee within the final parliament asking the DHSC achieve this by final summer season. The DHSC “has solely just lately written to us in response” to that suggestion, the PAC mentioned.

“It’s unacceptable that the division is but to develop a plan to take care of the price of medical negligence claims and a lot taxpayers’ cash is being spent on authorized charges,” the report says.

Paul Whiteing, the chief govt of affected person security charity Motion Towards Medical Accidents, mentioned that lawsuits arose over errors by NHS workers in each space of care. “However the largest sums are awarded to households of infants which can be left with lifelong disabilities, comparable to mind injury, by means of negligence at beginning.”

The NHS has confronted a sequence of maternity care scandals lately which have left moms and infants lifeless or badly injured. In 2023 the Care High quality Fee, the well being service care regulator, mentioned that two-thirds of maternity models offered substandard care.

The NHS would face fewer lawsuits if it was extra open when errors occur, Whiteing added.

“We see many individuals who solely litigate as a result of the NHS ‘pulled down the shutters’, by which I imply did not correctly look into what went incorrect, provide a significant apology for his or her mistake and contain the household within the investigation. If steps comparable to these have been adopted, many fewer folks would resort to litigation,” he mentioned.

Jess Brown-Fuller, a Liberal Democrat well being spokesperson, mentioned the massive value of NHS medical negligence payouts are “symptomatic of a well being service that merely shouldn’t be functioning. The Labour authorities’s embrace of dither and delay on social care, maternity reforms and rebuilding our hospitals is prolonging the distress.”

In its evaluation of the DHSC’s annual report and accounts for 2023-24, the PAC additionally revealed the price of constructing long-planned new excessive containment labs in Harlow, Essex, to assist defend the UK in opposition to infectious illnesses, had spiralled from £530m to “an eye-watering projected £3.2bn”.

And it criticised the federal government for not spelling out what affect its choice to abolish NHS England and axe tens of 1000’s of well being service managers would have on sufferers and workers. It voiced concern about cuts to dentistry, GP providers and well being prevention.

Matthew Taylor, the chief govt of the NHS Confederation, echoed the PAC’s unease. “Whereas many leaders perceive the necessity for change, the dearth of element on how the nationwide shake-up can be taken ahead, the tempo of this restructure, and the way it connects to the ambitions of the 10-year plan are a trigger for concern amongst workers,” he mentioned.

A DHSC spokesperson mentioned: “Affected person security is the bedrock of a wholesome NHS and social care system. This authorities will make sure the nation has one of the best system in place to maintain sufferers secure by overhauling the overly advanced forms of healthcare regulation and oversight and we are going to study the drivers of prices, tips on how to handle spending on medical negligence and the potential deserves of reform choices.”