MDU calls for radical rethink as maternity claims costs revealed
Speaking on the day of the Public Accounts Committee's (PAC) report into maternity services, the Medical Defence Union (MDU) said inflation-busting rises in the costs of compensating patients in clinical negligence claims must be tackled.
The PAC expressed concern at the £482 million paid out in 2012-13 for maternity claims, accounting for a third of the total NHS clinical negligence bill. It was also told that maternity claims rose by 80 per cent in the five years up to that point.1
The MDU supports the PAC’s call for more work on reducing medical errors, but points out the real problem is posed by the unsustainable rise in the costs of compensating patients.
Dr Christine Tomkins, MDU chief executive said:
"This report supports MDU experience that clinical negligence claims inflation is doubling every seven years. A claim that would cost £9m today will cost £18m in only seven years time. Claims inflation is increasing so much faster than any other type of inflation and in just a few years that £482m will be £964m. That is NHS money that would be much better spent on NHS patient care.
"We cannot afford to continue to pay claims escalating in this way, only radical legal reform will reduce the NHS clinical negligence bill. It is a matter of urgency that policy-makers take this issue seriously and act now.
"We agree with the PAC that more must be done to improve risk management and safety of care. But the practice of medicine is complex and can never be totally risk free. Improved patient safety might reduce future claims but even if it were possible to prevent every single adverse incident from now on, this would not tackle existing claims or those arising from incidents that have already happened but where the claim may not be reported for many years into the future.
"Ultimately we are all paying for the ever-increasing rise in NHS compensation costs and it is in all our interests that something is done to address claims costs urgently."
