Personal injury solicitors have this week expressed concern over Conservative Party plans to limit access to the courts and legal aid in clinical negligence cases if it gets into power after the next general election.

Shadow health minister John Baron complained last week that the annual cost to the National Health Service for such claims had now risen to £446 million, and that the legal and administrative costs often exceeded the money paid out to the victim.

Launching a consultation, he said such disputes should be resolved informally, with the court system serving as a last resort.

'Legal aid should be limited to the investigation of cases, and the conditional fee system should be used for litigation,' he added. 'Liability will continue to be based on negligence principles. We believe our proposals would broaden access to justice and impose commercial prudence on the legal process - and will only involve minimal changes to the law.'

The Legal Services Commission recently made similar proposals in relation to clinical negligence, actions against the police and education claims.

But the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers warned that medical accidents could have a permanent impact on victims' lives. 'It's already notoriously difficult to bring a claim for clinical negligence,' president Colin Ettinger warned. 'Out of around 850,000 adverse incidents in the NHS every year, about only 1% of those who are injured make a claim. Cutting back on legal aid could restrict access to justice even further, as claimants are unlikely to secure alternative funding.'