England 17/07/2013 – For several years now, clinical negligence claims against the NHS have been rising, but the figures for 2012/13 have proved much worse than anyone expected.
The latest statistics show that 16,006 patients have lodged complaints against the NHS during the financial year for 2012/13. For the year before that, the figure was just 13,517, which means that there has been an increase of 18.4% in complaints of this nature. Naturally, not all of these complaints result in legal action, but a growing number of these complaints are being resolved in court. Last year clinical negligence cases cost the NHS £1billlion.
Margaret Hodge, Chairman of the Commons public accounts committee described the newly released figures as “deeply worrying”. She said, “The trend is really concerning. Some of this is about ambulance-chasing lawyers, but more than that I think this reflects problems with the quality of healthcare, and that is a major concern.”
Patients are less tolerant of errors
Experts believe that these levels are only the tip of the iceberg. It appears that patients are becoming less and less tolerant of errors. People are sick of hearing about hospital and healthcare provider’s failures, so are making more complaints. When apologies and rational explanations are not forthcoming patients become unhappy, and it is at this point that most people decide to take their cases further.
This has led some in the legal profession to advice healthcare professionals and organisations to be more open and honest when things go wrong, and to settle at an early stage. They are tired of being accused of pushing their clients to sue rather than try to settle the matter out of court.
In fact, experienced lawyers like Lees who have dealt with hundreds of clinical negligence claims actively encourage their clients to follow the complaints procedures within the NHS. Over the years, they have helped many patients to navigate the NHS Complaints Procedure or use the General Medical Council to resolve their cases. In fatal cases, they have taken cases to The Coroner too. As a result, not all of the cases they take on actually end up in court, a fact many commentators fail to mention.
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Web: http://www.lees.co.uk