You can't just put your head in the sand - we agree
Last week, Michael Wade, a former Lloyds of London insurance executive, expressed concern about the affordability of payouts for claims against the NHS when he was interviewed by the Financial Times. He is quoted as saying You can't just put your head in the sand and MDU agrees with him.
Medical negligence costs inflation has been rising steadily at 10% over the last few years. This means compensation payments in England are currently doubling in value every seven years. These dramatic rises affect the NHS acutely and many damages settlements now exceed £5 million.
No one would deny that patients who have been negligently harmed should be fairly compensated but ultimately every citizen is paying for the inexorable rise in claims costs and any compensation awards not only have to be fair but sustainable too.
Legal reform is urgently needed to control the size of damages awards and this is something that we are fighting for at the MDU with our Fair Compensation campaign.
We suggest the repeal of S2(4) of the Law Reform (Personal Injuries) Act 1948, which specifies that NHS care must be disregarded when calculating future care costs. This means that calculations must be based upon an assumption that all future care is provided privately. We believe that an alternative solution would be for care to be provided through the public sector instead. An independent body could be established to define the health and social care package for all patients with a particular injury. When the person has been injured through medical negligence, compensating bodies such as the MDU, would be required to fund that package of care.
This would provide an additional funding boost for the NHS and local authorities, with money currently paid to the independent sector being retained within the health service for the benefit of all patients, including the great majority who require long-term care and treatment for a severe injury which has not come about as a result of negligence.
We agree with Mr Wade that the current system is unaffordable and unsustainable and believe that legal reform would allow for that problem to be addressed.
