Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what strategy his Department has to reduce compensation claims within the NHS.

In March 2014, my Rt. hon Friend the Secretary of State for Health issued a call to action to make the National Health Service the safest healthcare system in the world and achieve a three-year goal to halve avoidable harm and save 6,000 lives. The Sign up to Safety campaign embodies the ambition of the NHS to build a culture of safety, bringing together individuals and organisations with a contribution to make towards the patient safety goal. Elements of this campaign will focus on a reduction in avoidable harm that can lead to compensation claims. Organisations that sign up are setting out what they will do to strengthen patient safety, including a safety improvement plan which shows how their organisation intends to save lives and reduce harm for patients over the next three years. The NHS Litigation Authority (NHS LA) will support those organisations which have patient safety improvement plans that demonstrate a reduction in their higher volume, higher value claims.

The NHS LA also provides a safety and learning service to its members, sharing information on the learning from claims with individual trusts and across the NHS to support learning and improvements in safety, and reduce harm. It also incentivises members to reduce claims by rewarding safer organisations with fewer, less costly claims through reduced contributions.