NHS Resolution settled 81% of clinical claims in England without resorting to legal proceedings in 2023/24, the organisation’s annual report and accounts have revealed.
It described its approach to dispute resolution as “positive, less adversarial and more collaborative”.
Some 10,800 claims were resolved through NHS Resolution’s various dispute resolution processes rather than formal legal processes.
The annual report and accounts also revealed that:
- Claims remained broadly steady in 2023/24 in terms of the numbers reported and resolved. In 2023/24, around half of clinical claims were closed with compensation being payable, similar to the previous year.
- The overall value of damages, particularly for the most severely harmed patients, has continued to increase, as have claimant legal costs, but with some welcome positive signs such as a further reduction in damages inflation, which has reduced the overall provision for clinical negligence.
- £2.8 billion was paid out in 2023/24 for compensation and associated costs on all of NHS Resolution’s indemnity schemes for clinical negligence claims, compared to £2.64 billion in 2022/23 for clinical negligence claims. 41%, or £1.15 billion are maternity-related payments, the same percentage as 2022/23.
- There has been an increased demand for NHS Resolution’s expert Practitioner Performance Advice (Advice) service, which responds to concerns about practitioner performance
- There was a substantial increase of 21% in new requests for advice and a particularly high demand for assessments of professional behaviours with a clear focus on patient safety.
- The estimated ‘annual cost of harm’ for incidents in 2023/24 for the main clinical scheme, Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts (CNST) was more than £4.7 billion. In 2022/23 the ‘annual cost of harm’ for CNST was £6.3 billion.
- The number of clinical claims resolved in 2023/24 was 13,382, compared to 13,552 in 2022/23. The total number of new clinical negligence claims and reported incidents in 2023/24 totalled 13,784, an increase of 273 on 2022/23 (13,511).
- In the Clinical Negligence Scheme for General Practice (CNSGP) there were 202 more claims (2,382 in 2023/24 compared to 2,180 in 2022/23), an increase of 9% compared to 2022/23.
- NHS Resolution’s provision as of 31 March 2024 was £58.5 billion, compared to £69.6 billion in 2022/23.
- The volume of non-clinical claims reported in 2023/24 (3,299) is comparable to 2022/23 (3,136) although remains lower than pre-pandemic levels.
Helen Vernon, Chief Executive of NHS Resolution, said: “NHS Resolution has built on the success in resolving clinical claims for compensation against the NHS in England without exposing patients, families and healthcare staff to distressing and costly court proceedings.
“Last year, eighty-one percent of clinical claims were resolved without litigation, reflecting our ambition to minimise the use of formal legal action in settling claims. This has been achieved by strengthening our relationships with our NHS partners and the legal market.
“Throughout our work, our focus has been to deliver an efficient and effective service that provides the best possible value for public funds, and this has driven many of the programmes to invest in our people and our systems."
NHS Resolution’s Annual report and accounts 2023/24 are available in full here.
Harry Rodd
