Spending on claims by the NHS's dispute-handling body rose to £2.5 billion last year - up from £2.3bn in 2020/21 - despite initiatives to cut the number of cases going to court. In its annual report published today, NHS Resolution states that a record 77% of claims were resolved in 2021/22 without court proceedings.

According to the report, this was achieved through a range of dispute resolution approaches and continued cooperation across the legal market, which continued to gain momentum during the pandemic. In the year, 16,484 clinical and non-clinical claims were resolved, up from 15,712 in 2020/21. 

Claimant legal costs paid out during the year rose to £470.9 million, up from £448.1m the previous year while NHS legal costs rose from £151.4m to £156.6m. The report attributes the increase in NHS legal costs to increased spending on general practice indemnity schemes.

Introducing the report, Helen Vernon, chief executive, expresses concern about the 'continued rise in the costs of compensation claims for clinical negligence'. The report reveals that the change in the discount rate applied to compensation payouts caused a 51% increase in current obligations, from £85.2 billion to £128.6 billion.

'Claims inflation, in the meantime, has slightly abated, with increasing evidence that the long-term trend is below levels previously assumed,' Vernon writes. 'While this is positive news, the overall trajectory remains upwards and of concern.'

 

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