Handling Clinical Negligence Claims in England

Book excerpt: There is concern about the lack of publicly available information on clinical negligence claims and whether the system is cost-effective, quick, efficient and humane. This report looks at the number of claims, the cost of settling them and the time taken; patients access to remedies and who patients claims are managed. It found that claims in England rose 72% between 1990 and 1998 and the net present value of outstanding claims was �2.6 billion. Claims still take a long time to settle and those that were closed in 1999/2000 took average five and a half years to settle (excluding cerebral palsy and brain damage).