Cost of medical negligence in NHS rose by 7% a year in 1990s

The cost and incidence of clinical negligence claims are widely believed to have soared in the wake of health service restructuring and NHS indemnity. Fenn et al (p 1567) show that litigation against the NHS more than doubled in volume between 1990 and 1998, during which time hospital activity increased by 30%. The overall expenditure on clinical negligence by the NHS in 1998 was in the region of £84 million, including legal costs. The stock of outstanding liabilities, valued in 1999 at £2.8 billion by the auditor general, is a grossly misleading indicator of the impending cost of clinical negligence to the NHS since the proportion of claims that are eventually paid is quite low.