Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government how many actions for clinical negligence were filed against NHS England institutions in each of the last ten years; how many of those actions were (1) brought to trial, and (2) withdrawn; and what was the average length of time between filing and conclusion.

General practitioners’ (GPs) and dentists’ indemnity to cover clinical negligence payments is currently provided privately by Medical Defence Organisations. The Department does not have access to this information regarding primary care and dentistry.

NHS Resolution has provided the following information:

NHS Resolution has included all clinical negligence claims, excluding those against independent sector organisations.

NHS Resolution has advised that many of these claims have not been settled yet and so the number of claims that have been taken to trial and the number of claims that have closed with nil damages will increase over time. Likewise the time to resolution, i.e. notification to settlement of damages, is based on claims that have settled so far. This figure will change when further claims have been resolved, especially in the more recent years.

The following table shows clinical negligence claims notified 2007/08 to 2016/17 as at 31/03/2017 excluding claims against independent sector organisations.