Our policy work

We work to promote and defend members’ interests in the regulatory and legislative environments.

Time to strike a balance

Action is needed now to tackle rising cost of clinical negligence 

The cost of clinical negligence is rising at an alarming rate and is having an impact on access to and the delivery of healthcare. 

We believe that now is the time to introduce solutions. It goes without saying that there must be a clear focus on improving patient safety and the reliability of healthcare, and MPS is a frontrunner in this area. We provide risk management and educational support to members but doing so alone is unlikely to address the problem of rising clinical negligence cost. We believe the clinical negligence environment should be addressed on the basis of a three pronged approach, legal reform being one of them:

1)       A better understanding of the reasons for and drivers behind clinical negligence claims
2)       Reduce clinical error and improved patient safety
3)       Legal reform to help tackle the rising cost of clinical negligence
We welcome the commitment in the ANC 2019 party manifesto to develop a comprehensive policy and legislative framework to mitigate the risks related to medical litigation.

Now that a new Government is about to take seats, real progress needs to be made in making these reforms a reality and we are hopeful that change is on the horizon. 

As an expert in this field, MPS is determined to help the Government deliver this change.

In our position paper “Time to strike a balance”, which we sent to the new Minister of Health and Minister of Justice, MPS is calling for a serious assessment of the legal reforms that can be implemented in the short, medium and long-term.