London: Experts warn that extra £2 billion which Chancellor George Osborne promised to inject in his mini budget to NHS will be wiped out due to a sharp rise in the number of legal claims against hospitals.
The Department for Health admitted that the NHS has “potential liabilities” of £26.1 billion, of which £25.7 billion relates to clinical negligence. This is an increase of £3.1 billion in a year.
The disclosure undermined Osborne’s pledge this week that an extra £2 billion for the NHS would be spent on front-line services.
It also emerged that the health watchdog has apologised to hundreds of GPs for giving them incorrect patient safety risk ratings. More than 7,000 GP practices in England were put into one of six risk bandings, which can trigger early inspections, after a flawed analysis by the Care Quality Commission. An investigation found that hundreds of surgeries were placed in the wrong category.
Andy Burnham, the shadow health secretary, said the increased liabilities showed that the Coalition was failing to manage the health service. “These figures provide indisputable proof that the NHS is heading seriously downhill,” he said. “Patient care is suffering following David Cameron’s decision to axe thousands of nursing jobs. The NHS is now setting aside soaring amounts for negligence claims. Labour will invest £2.5 billion extra a year in the NHS to pay for 20,000 more nurses.”
The figures were disclosed by Earl Howe, the health minister, in response to a question in the Lords. Several factors are pushing up the bill, including a rise in patient numbers and the complexity of care. Most of the costs are the result of errors that leave babies brain damaged, of which there are around 100 cases each year. Advances in medical science mean that these children live much longer, increasing their care bill.
The rise of “no win, no fee” agreements has also pushed up the number of people suing the NHS, although a spokesman for the NHS Litigation Authority (LA) said that it expected changes to the law would reduce this number.
From April last year, the “success fee” lawyers could charge was reduced from 100 per cent to 25 per cent. The spokesman said: “The NHS LA’s provisions increased from £22.9 billion as at 31 March 2013, to £26.1 billion as at 31 March 2014, of which £10.5 billion relates to claims notified to the NHS but which are not yet resolved and claims already resolved as periodic payment orders - orders made by the court which allow the NHS LA to make ongoing and regular payments to meet care needs.”
