Dr Sarah Townley, Deputy Medical Director at Medical Protection Society (MPS), said:

“With such significant sums being paid out by the State Claims Agency in legal costs for clinical negligence claims and the overall increase in costs, it is right to question whether this is acceptable or sustainable.

“At MPS, we have long called for the introduction of pre-action protocols, to speed up the painfully slow clinical negligence claims process in Ireland. This would reduce the toll this takes on the mental wellbeing of the doctors and patients involved as well as reduce the associated legal costs.

“Our own data shows medical claims against members in Ireland incur higher legal costs than nearly every country where we have members. It also shows that a claim in Ireland takes just over four years on average to resolve - which is considerably longer than in the UK, Singapore and Hong Kong, for example.

“It has been two years since recommendations by the Report of the Interdepartmental Working Group on the Rising Cost of Health-Related Claims were accepted by the Government – yet the draft regulations required to introduce pre-action protocols are still yet to be introduced. The need for these reforms has never been greater, and we hope to see them implemented as soon as possible.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

• MPS claims data shows that medical claims against members in Ireland incur higher legal costs than nearly every country where we have members.The average legal cost for an Ireland claim managed by MPS is €38,673 - which is, for example, 193% more expensive than in the UK (€13,202) and 72% more expensive than in Malaysia (€22,515).
• MPS data also shows that a claim in Ireland takes just over four years (1,478 days) on average to resolve, which is over 60% longer than in the UK, Singapore and Hong Kong.”
• Pre-action protocols are a set of guidelines, laid out through legislation, which explain the conduct and steps a court expects parties to take before claims proceedings can commence.