§ Mr. DobsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health (1) how many claims for clinical negligence against the 225W NHS which went to trial were successful; and of these how many were (a) legal aid cases and (b) pursued on a no win, no fee basis, for the latest year for which figures are available;[11950]
(2) how many claims for clinical negligence against the NHS went to trial; and of these how many were (a) legal aid cases and (b) pursued on a no win, no fee basis for the latest year for which figures are available;[11949]
(3) how many claims for clinical negligence were (a) made against the NHS and (b) settled out of court; of these how many were (i) legal aid cases and (ii) pursued on a no win, no fee basis; how many went to trial; and of these how many were legal aid cases in the latest: year for which figures are available.[11948]
§ Ms Blears[holding answer 5 November 2001]: Comprehensive data on the total number of clinical negligence claims are not collected centrally.
However, the national health service litigation authority handles clinical negligence claims made against the NHS under two risk pooling schemes, but only those at above certain values. Of the claims held by the NHS litigation authority on its database, there were 4,570 reported to the relevant NHS body in the year 2000–01.
The NHS litigation authority's database does not show whether cases are settled out of court or go to trial. However, the NHSLA estimates that approximately 95 per cent. of cases which they settle are done out of court. It is also not possible to distinguish from NHSLA data whether a case is funded by legal aid or under a conditional fee arrangement (no win, no fee). However, the NHSLA estimate that approximately 95 per cent. of all cases are legally aided, while the number being pursued under a conditional fee arrangement is limited to around a dozen.
§ Mr. DobsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what the total cost was to the NHS of clinical negligence cases in each of the last five years for which figures are available; and in each year what was the proportion paid in legal fees.[11953]
§ Ms Blears[holding answer 5 November 2001]: Figures on the amounts included in the National Audit Summarised Accounts for clinical negligence expenditure for the latest available years are as follows:
Year £ million 1996–97 235 1997–98 144 1998–99 221 1999–2000 373 Source:
National health service summarised accounts for health authorities, NHS trusts and NHS litigation authorityFigures prior to 1996–97 are not available because clinical negligence was not separately identified in the accounts before that date.
Changes to accounting policies mean that these amounts are not directly comparable.
226WThe summarized accounts do not show, and it is there not possible to break down, separately what proportion of these figures are for legal fees.
§ Mr. DobsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health what his latest estimate is of the annual cost to the NHS of a no-fault compensation scheme for clinical negligence.[11954]
§ Ms Blears[holding answer 5 November 2001]: There are no reliable estimates of likely costs of no-fault compensation.
No-fault compensation is among the issues now being considered by the Chief Medical Officer's advisory committee looking at the options for reforming the system for dealing with clinical negligence claims. The Department has recently commissioned Professor Paul Fenn, Professor of insurance policy at the University of Nottingham, to conduct a study evaluating the potential cost of alternative systems for compensating patients.
§ Mr. DobsonTo ask the Secretary of State for Health how many claims for clinical negligence were made against the NHS in each of the last five years, for which figures are available.[11951]
§ Ms Blears[holding answer 5 November 2001]Comprehensive data on the total number of clinical negligence claims are not collected centrally.
However, the national health service litigation authority handles clinical negligence claims made against the NHS under two risk pooling schemes, but only those at above certain values. The NHS litigation authority does not hold data on whether a case is funded by legal aid or under a conditional fee arrangement (no-win no-fee). Of the claims held by the NHS litigation authority on its database, the information requested is set shown in the table:
Clinical negligence claims against the NHS Year All claims 1996–97 4,017 1997–98 6,711 1998–99 6,415 1999–2000 5,973 2000–01 4,570