NHS compensation system unsustainable, says insurer: Liabilities reached £16.7bn in 2011 under system requiring payouts to cover cost of private care for victims of negligence
Compensation settlements for medical negligence running into billions of pounds are placing an unsustainable burden on the NHS, according to an organisation that insures doctors.
The Medical Defence Union pointed to figures showing a rapid rise in the value of settlements, pushing up liabilities to £16.7bn in 2011.
The MDU chief executive, Christine Tomkins, said it was time to change a system that was introduced in 1948 – the year the NHS was created – and requires compensation to cover the cost of private care for victims of NHS negligence.
She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We have a system now in which claims inflation is far outstripping any other sort of inflation – wage inflation or price inflation. We have a system where, ultimately, the cost of paying damages in these cases is really unsustainable.
"Mainly it is caused by the cost of long-term care for severely damaged patients and of course these patients do need that care."
The system under which compensation was calculated "disregards the sort of care that can be provided by the NHS, which is often very good and very capable of providing this kind of long-term care", Tomkins said.
"It disregards it because of a 1948 act … which says that even if the NHS is capable of providing the care, that will be disregarded when the damages are paid.
"What that means is that the NHS is in effect having to pay the cost on the basis that all the future care will be provided in the private, independent sector. What that means is that the NHS is paying to set up 'one-man institutions' to care for these very badly damaged patients. There really must be a better way of doing this."
Tomkins cited figures from the NHS Litigation Authority, which put its total liability at £16.7bn in 2011. She said: "That's an awful lot of taxpayers' money. And if you look at the rate of increase, in 2010 they paid out £863m in compensation and in 2011 that figure was £1.2bn. That is a 39% increase in a single year." The Guardian
Compensation settlements for medical negligence running into billions of pounds are placing an unsustainable burden on the NHS, according to an organisation that insures doctors.
The Medical Defence Union pointed to figures showing a rapid rise in the value of settlements, pushing up liabilities to £16.7bn in 2011.
The MDU chief executive, Christine Tomkins, said it was time to change a system that was introduced in 1948 – the year the NHS was created – and requires compensation to cover the cost of private care for victims of NHS negligence.
She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "We have a system now in which claims inflation is far outstripping any other sort of inflation – wage inflation or price inflation. We have a system where, ultimately, the cost of paying damages in these cases is really unsustainable.
"Mainly it is caused by the cost of long-term care for severely damaged patients and of course these patients do need that care."
The system under which compensation was calculated "disregards the sort of care that can be provided by the NHS, which is often very good and very capable of providing this kind of long-term care", Tomkins said.
"It disregards it because of a 1948 act … which says that even if the NHS is capable of providing the care, that will be disregarded when the damages are paid.
"What that means is that the NHS is in effect having to pay the cost on the basis that all the future care will be provided in the private, independent sector. What that means is that the NHS is paying to set up 'one-man institutions' to care for these very badly damaged patients. There really must be a better way of doing this."
Tomkins cited figures from the NHS Litigation Authority, which put its total liability at £16.7bn in 2011. She said: "That's an awful lot of taxpayers' money. And if you look at the rate of increase, in 2010 they paid out £863m in compensation and in 2011 that figure was £1.2bn. That is a 39% increase in a single year." The Guardian
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