§ Baroness Hooperasked Her Majesty's Government:
What responses have been received to the Department of Health's 1992 discussion paper Arbitration for Medical Negligence in the NHS; what conclusions have been drawn from consideration of responses; and whether those conclusions will be published.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Baroness Cumberlege)We received 91 responses from a wide variety of interested individuals and professional consumer and National Health Service bodies to the discussion paper which was published in October 1991. The outcome was inconclusive in that no consensus in favour of arbitration was apparent. The matter is one of several being examined by an expert working group on clinical negligence set up last year by my right honourable friend the Minister for Health. We will need to take account of the working group's advice before reaching conclusions about the way forward.