Selasa, 03 Juli 2012

NHS pays out record £1.2billion as compensation claims rocket by 40% in ONE YEAR

NHS pays out record £1.2billion as compensation claims rocket by 40% in ONE YEAR

  • Payouts, which include legal costs and compensation claims, is huge rise on previous year's £863m bill
  • Bill for 'non-clinical claims', such as payouts for people falling on wet floors, was £52.4m

By Graham Smith

PUBLISHED: 11:24 EST, 3 July 2012 | UPDATED: 13:16 EST, 3 July 2012

The NHS has paid out a record £1.2billion in litigation claims in one year, it has emerged.

A surge in the number of claims made by NHS patients or their families led to the health service paying out the huge sum for its clinical negligence compensation bill between 2011 and 2012.

The payouts, which represent legal costs and compensation claims, is a huge rise on the previous year when the bill was £863million, the NHS Litigation Authority’s (NHS LA) annual accounts show.

Lydia Eaton, 102, pictured with her daughter Elaine, last month became the oldest person to successfully sue the NHS

Lydia Eaton, 102, pictured with her daughter Elaine, last month became the oldest person to successfully sue the NHS when she was awarded £35,000 compensation for being prematurely discharged with a fractured pelvis.The NHS has paid out a record £1.2billion in litigation claims in one year, it emerged today

The bill for 'non-clinical claims', which include payouts for people falling and hurting themselves on wet floors where there was no sign, was £52.4million.

Such claims could have been made by patients, staff or visitors.

The NHS LA, which was created to deal with claims from patients harmed while undergoing treatment as well as from staff and visitors, said the figure represents a surge in the number of claims between 2010 and 2011 - which were paid out this year.

In 2009 to 2010, there were 10,726 individual claims, but this jumped to 13,001 in 2010 to 2011.

In 2011 to 2012, this figure increased further to 13,761 - indicating that the compensation payouts for next year could rise higher.

Tom Fothergill, director of finance at NHS LA, said: 'The financial year 2011 to 2012 has seen further increases in claims activity at every level of the NHS LA’s work.

'We were able to close more claims than ever before, but the combined effect of sharply increased claims in recent years and a continuation of the growth in new claims received this year still resulted in there being more than 5 per cent more claims open at the end of the year.'

The Medical Defence Union (MDU) called for urgent legal reform to address the huge bill.

Critic: Dr Christine Tomkins, Medical Defence Union chief executive, called for urgent legal reform to address the huge bill

Critic: Dr Christine Tomkins, Medical Defence Union chief executive, called for urgent legal reform to address the huge bill

Dr Christine Tomkins, MDU chief executive, said the current situation is unsustainable.

She said: 'NHS damages payouts have increased substantially in the last year and in our experience of settling cases on behalf of our GP and independent practitioner members, we have even seen compensation awards exceeding £5million.

'We have also seen claims in general practice rise significantly in number for each of the last two years.

'Large awards are usually a result of the cost of providing for future care or compensation for loss of earnings, or both.

'While patients should be compensated quickly and fairly when they have been negligently harmed, the massive cost to society cannot be overlooked.

'Awards are escalating much faster than price and wage inflation. Everyone has ultimately to bear the burden of paying for this.

'These rises in compensation are unaffordable and can’t be allowed to continue, especially in the current ec onomic climate, which affects us all.

'Many other countries such as the USA and Australia were forced to tackle the problem of unsustainably high compensation awards in the face of a compensation crisis.

'As illustrated by the figure of £1.2billion from the NHS LA, awards are getting higher and higher and we should not wait for a crisis. We need legal reform now.'

Here's what other readers have said. Why not add your thoughts, or debate this issue live on our message boards.

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high pay lures nurses and drs into the profession....what high pay....i work the same hours as my sister who is a delivery driver and she earns about the same take home pay as me.....im waiting for a vacancy as i have had enough of the negativity from people who have no idea what it is like to work in a hospital.....i will never have to do nights again, all bank holidays off, free weekends,and never to work all over christmas and new year will be the icing on the cake....whilst i have enjoyed my nursing career i now have a bad back from lifting patients ,,,,,,,will i sue the NHS for my ongoing back problem....ya bet ya!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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It`s cheaper and part of The Plan to fork out a billion or so each year than to raise standards.

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Reading the amount of incompetence every week in the NHS I am surprised its not much higher.

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How many of these claims were settled out of court because to do so was cheaper than paying parasitic lawyers their exortionate fees even if the hospital would have won the case?

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Let's be honest if people in any other job were as incompetent as some NHS staff they would be sacked , lets not forget this article is in the same section of a young man with cancer dying of thirst after unacceptable treatment . Not all cases deserve compensation but some do . Many litigation cases would not exist if hospitals were being run properly .

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it would be interesting to know how much of this figure was taken in legal costs ?, lawyers are the true parasites and winners in this scenario - £650 per hour will be a routine charge by solicitors, for simply drafting a letter, with considerably greater charges for a barristers time. There should be fixed charges for all legal representation to protect against rip off fees. Consideration should be given to force patients to sign a waver prior to treatment, protecting the NHS from exposure to large compensation claims.

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The rapid increase in claims seems to indicate its being abused, 1.2 billion is serious money that could have been better used. The story of a patient being discharged early and getting £35,000 illustrates the point. At this rate we won't have a health service to claim against in the future.

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Wonder how many are free loading health tourists , A lot of people getting treatment have never paid any tax so no contract so no compo .

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All these errors that are occuring in the NHS. If these errors happened in any other job one would be sacked. At one time a Doctor ond Nursing staff were dedicated to their jobs, but today they get good wages, and more errors with it. Could it be that it is the high wage that draws Doctors and Nurses, and not the dedication. Could this be why there are so many errors happening. With the advent of the Internet patients are not so easily fobbed off as they used to be with the diagnoses given by Doctors. It could be cost saving for the NHS if the Doctors insurance covered his errors. Any Doctor who continues to make errors would have to pay out a lot in insurance to cover his errors. It would also help if the public were made aware of Doctors errors so we can avoid this sort of Doctor.

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I always thought Doctors were insured against these type of actions so why is the Health service paying? They should put signs up " enter at your own risk" at the entrance doors, its a compensation nightmare.

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