§ Lord Colwynasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many claims for clinical negligence against Hospital Trusts in England and Wales were outstanding at the end of March 1997, 1998, 1999 and 2000 respectively; what proportion of these claims concerned National Health Service dentistry; and what effect they expect the recent Court of Appeal judgment on the 10 personal injury cases to have on future claims. [HL2713]
§ Lord Hunt of Kings HeathThe National Health Service Executive collects data on the costs of clinical negligence claims, rather than the number or types of claims. It is therefore not possible to say how many claims were outstanding at the end of March for each of the years requested, or which relate to NHS dentistry. In relation to general dental practitioners, no information is collected on the number of claims, as claims are made against individual practitioners and not through the NHS.
The recent Court of Appeal judgment about the level of general damages in personal injury cases means that this element of awards in future cases will not be decided on the basis set out in that judgment. The judgment also applies to all current outstanding claims and so has meant an immediate increase in costs to the NHS. However, these increases are not as significant as would have been the case if the Court of Appeal had decided to accept the recommendations on general damages levels made in the Law Commission's Report (No. 257) on this issue.