HC Deb 09 September 2003 vol 410 cc328-9W
Mrs Curtis-Thomas

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what percentage of operation care complainants have brought compensation claims in each of the last five years. [128632]

Ms Rosie Winterton

This information is not collected centrally by the Department of Health. The information that is requested can only be supplied at disproportionate cost to the request.

The present situation is that National Health Service complaints and clinical negligence claims are handled separately. Once a patient who has made a complaint indicates that they are seeking legal action linked to the complaint, then the complaint is halted until the case is resolved through litigation, withdrawn or settlement reached with the trust or NHS Litigation Authority.

However, a review of the way clinical negligence claims and complaints are handled in the NHS is currently under way. The recently published Chief Medical Officer's report, "Making Amends", sets out a number of recommendations to reform the way clinical negligence cases are handled in the NHS, including the removal of the rule which requires a complaint to be halted pending resolution of a claim to encourage closer alignment between the claims and complaints.