NHS: Negligence
(asked on 8th December 2014) - View Source
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much has been paid out by the National Health Service in settlement of clinical negligence claims both in absolute terms and as a percentage of the NHS budget in each of the last ten years for which data are available<i>.</i>
The Department does not hold complete information on this centrally, as each National Health Service body is responsible for handling its own litigation except where they have the claims processed under the statutory NHS indemnity schemes, which are administered by the NHS Litigation Authority (NHS LA) on behalf of the Secretary of State. However, the vast majority of litigation claims against the NHS are handled by the NHS LA, and costs met from its schemes.
The following table shows the payments paid out by the NHS LA in settlement of clinical negligence claims both in absolute terms and as a percentage of the Department’s total departmental expenditure limit (TDEL) in each of the last ten years for which data are available.
Payments made by NHS LA in respect of clinical negligence claims against the NHS:
Year
| Total Payments £'000 | (TDEL) Outturn £’000 | Percentage
| |
2004-05 | 502,893 | 69,000,000 | 0.7% | |
2005-06 | 560,308 | 76,000,000 | 0.7% | |
2006-07 | 579,390 | 81,000,000 | 0.7% | |
2007-08 | 633,325 | 84,000,000 | 0.8% | |
2008-09 | 769,226 | 91,000,000 | 0.8% | |
2009-10 | 786,991 | 98,000,000 | 0.8% | |
2010-11 | 863,398 | 100,000,000 | 0.9% | |
2011-12 | 1,277,372 | 103,000,000 | 1.2% | |
2012-13 | 1,258,880 | 105,000,000 | 1.2% | |
2013-14 | 1,192,538 | 110,000,000 | 1.1% |
Note:
1. Numbers taken from the Department’s Annual Report and Accounts
2. During the Spending Review 2010 period (i.e. 2011-12 to 2014-15), there have been two significant Machinery of Government changes to transfer functions and spending from DH to the Department for Communities and Local Government. These changes were only backdated to 2007-08 and therefore the TDEL figures for financial years before this date are not directly comparable.