The Medical Protection Society (MPS) shares concerns raised by NHS England’s Director of Commissioning, Rosamond Roughton, at the 2016 Health and Care Innovation Expo today about the rising cost of clinical negligence and the impact that this is having on the profession.1
MPS Medical Director, Dr Rob Hendry, said urgent action needs to be taken to drive down the cost of clinical negligence for both the NHS and GPs to make it more affordable for society.
"The NHS is now seeing damages reaching well over £10 million in some cases. It is crucial that we ask ourselves whether it is appropriate and affordable to continue to pay such high costs in damages. We recognise that this is a difficult message but difficult decisions about spending in the NHS are made every day, and the cost of claims should not be considered as separate to this. It’s crucial that as a society we have this conversation now, before the situation become unsustainable."
MPS is calling on the government to prioritise reform of the legal system to drive down the cost of clinical negligence. MPS believes introducing fixed costs for small value claims and a limit on damages for future costs of care and earnings will help make clinical negligence more affordable.
Commenting on new care models and how MPS is responding to the future of primary care services, Dr Hendry said:
“As an organisation, MPS is committed to offering flexible membership options and ensuring that we reflect the current and emerging patterns of primary care delivery in England and the rest of the UK. For example, for our GP group schemes, we can now provide individual membership to Physiotherapists, Physician Associates, Pharmacists, Paramedic Practitioners and Focus Care Co-ordinators / Primary Care Navigators.
“This demonstrates that we are continuing to provide flexible solutions for new ways of working.”
Further information
For further information, please contact Shannon Darling, Press Officer at MPS on 0207 399 1319 or [email protected]
For a PDF of this press release, please click PDF
Notes to editor:
- NHSE (2016) Rising medical damages awards are ‘main barrier’ to strengthening primary care: https://www.england.nhs.uk/expo/2016/09/08/damages-awards-main-barrier/
About MPS
The Medical Protection Society Limited (“MPS”) is the world’s leading protection organisation for doctors, dentists and healthcare professionals. We protect and support the professional interests of more than 300,000 members around the world. Membership provides access to expert advice and support together with the right to request indemnity for complaints or claims arising from professional practice.
Our in-house experts assist with the wide range of legal and ethical problems that arise from professional practice. This can include clinical negligence claims, complaints, medical and dental council inquiries, legal and ethical dilemmas, disciplinary procedures, inquests and fatal accident inquiries.
Our philosophy is to support safe practice in medicine and dentistry by helping to avert problems in the first place. We do this by promoting risk management through our workshops, E-learning, clinical risk assessments, publications, conferences, lectures and presentations.
MPS is not an insurance company. All the benefits of membership of MPS are discretionary as set out in the Memorandum and Articles of Association.