NHS bill for blunders nears £6bn

The extraordinary bill for compensation claims against the NHS is revealed today.

New figures show the health service is preparing to pay at least £5.89 billion to victims of medical blunders currently taking legal action. The bill is only for cases the NHS is sure it will lose - with the possibility of a further £3.2 billion in payouts if other claims are successful.

The amount the NHS expects to pay out is up £640 million in only a year.

Campaigners say more effort must be made to prevent mistakes by hospitals and handle complaints efficiently. Patients' groups and politicians condemned the "need, greed and anger" among claimants.

The figures were released by the National Audit Office (NAO) in an annual report on NHS accounts. The health service as a whole kept within budget - ending 2003 with a £96 million underspend.

However, many hospitals, particularly in London, were massively in the red - with compensation payouts representing a major drain on resources.

The total amount the NHS expects to pay to settle clinical negligence claims was £5.89 billion in March 2003. The bill is certain to have risen since then - the number of cases pending soared by more than a third between 2002 to 2003, from 7,628 to 12,173.

The NHS's annual budget in 2002-3 was £56 billion. The amount actually paid out that year to settle negligence cases was £446 million.

The NAO report states: "The cost of clinical negligence claims continues to be a major challenge for the NHS and represents a significant and increasing drain on resources available for patient care."

Today the NHS Litigation Authority insisted costs were under control.

Chief executive Steve Walker said: "Only about one per cent of claims are contested to trial. Claims are being settled faster and with less acrimony. More are settled by alternative means to litigation, for example mediation or roundtable meetings.

"The overwhelming proportion of damages paid is to meet the care needs of patients who have been harmed."

But critics blamed lax standards in hospitals. Liberal Democrat MP Paul Burstow, the party's health spokesman, said: "Rather than stumping up huge sums on compensation, the Government must reduce the chance of mistakes happening in the first place."

Patients' groups say "ambulance chasing" lawyers offering to represent patients on a no-win-no-fee basis are

fuelling the problem. Simon Williams of the Patients' Association said: "People make these claims through need, greed or anger. It is right that when something goes wrong, patients should be given compensation.

"However, there are a lot of people who are chancing it. When you go to a hospital, it is amazing to see the number of advertisements for legal firms." He said many cases could be prevented if patients were offered better information about the risks of medical procedures, and if hospitals dealt with complaints efficiently.

Campaign group Action for Victims of Medical Accidents claimed most patients only took legal action as a last resort. Chief executive Peter Walsh said: "It is a myth to suggest patients are litigious.

"People who contact our helpline show a marked reluctance to sue. Most don't, but those that do often feel driven to it by the culture of denial and obfuscation in large swathes of the NHS."