NHS Resolution, the new brand of the NHS Litigation Authority, has recently released their first annual report.

This contains some interesting information about the number of clinical negligence claims, and also the amount paid out in compensation to the victims of clinical negligence.

Despite much of the mainstream media harping on about the “compensation culture” that is taking over the UK, the NHS figures show that the number of new claims actually fell by 2.5 % last year, totalling 10,686 over that period. When you consider that current estimates suggest that the population of England is over 55 million people, perhaps this provides a different perspective, as does the surprising absence of newspaper headlines trumpeting this finding!

Another interesting figure shows that the compensation paid out to victims of clinical negligence is heavily skewed towards obstetric claims, as although only 10% of new claims recorded in 2016-17 related to this area, the value attributed to this amounted to 50% of the total allocated to cover all claims that year.

That is hardly surprising, in that obstetrics is one of the very few areas of medicine where a negligent act has the ability to injure two or even three people, and where such injuries can be life changing and lifelong in terms of their consequences. At Jackson Lees, we have acted in a number of cases where negligence on the part of obstetric or midwifery staff has led to irreversible brain injury being suffered by the baby, and physical and / or psychological injuries suffered by the parents.

Such injuries for the child can dramatically affect the lives of the whole family, given the need for extra care, equipment and therapies as a result of the brain damage. This also affects the need for adapted accommodation and compensation for loss of earnings that would otherwise have been received, together with multiple other consequences. When you bear in mind that the parents of such children may well be struggling to overcome physical or psychological injuries, and may need specialist treatment or care themselves, it is easy to see that the costs of such cases can be substantial.

Comments in the medical press have made much of the fact that compensation paid out to victims of clinical negligence claims was over £1bn in 2016-17, and anyone would agree that this is not a small sum. But if you assume that 50% of this figure, or over £500m was paid out to brain injured children and their families, then this provides a helpful context.

It is also worth noting that NHS resolution is not a charity, and that they and their lawyers do not simply fling money at anyone who wanders past and asks for it. For monies to be paid out, that would usually imply either that the NHS has failed to defend a claim in Court, or that the lawyers advising them have indicated that it would be sensible for them to settle a case without a Trial.

As such, if over £1bn was paid out, then that was because over £1bn was owed to victims of clinical negligence, who have been left with injuries sustained because the NHS fell below the standard that could reasonably have been expected of them, and caused such injuries.

So perhaps if NHS Resolution, the Government and the media want to see that figure fall, then they should look at reducing the likelihood of negligent care being provided in the first place, rather than simply bemoaning the consequences of it.