The NHS Litigation Authority is a fund which pays compensation and legal costs to those who have suffered as a result of negligence at the hands of NHS practitioners.
However, a recent significant rise in compensation claims for medical negligence has now forced the Department of Health to bail out the NHS Litigation Authority to the tune of 185-million. The bailout payment is intended to cover the costs of compensation claims and legal fees incurred between January and April 2012.
Government figures indicate that the maximum possible amount for negligence payouts faced by the NHS, if all cases brought against it were lost, has rocketed over the past ten years. The figure rose from 5.31-billion in 2001 to 16.85-billion in 2011. Annual payouts over the same period grew from 277- million in 2000-01 to nearly 1-billion in 2010-11. The number of clinical negligence claims has also risen in the past five years, from 5,697 to 8,655 per year.
The Health Secretary Andrew Lansley indicated that a significant rise in "no-win, no-fee" claims is to blame for the rise in payouts. These claims are instigated by "claimant farmers" (better-known as "ambulance chasers") who encourage NHS patients to sue for negligence without needing to pay their own legal costs, whether or not they win the case. Under the present system the successful claimant's legal expenses are payable by the defendant, over and above any compensation awarded.
The Department for Health has joined forces with the Ministry of Justice in support of far-reaching proposals intended to clamp down on claimant farmers. Under the present system, according to a spokesman for the Ministry of Justice, "[t]he claimant lawyers are making a packet, as are the claimant farmers." The financial director of the NHS Litigation Authority, Tom Fothergill, has indicated that no-win, no fee lawyers had added a significant premium to costs, as had a recent legal ruling which has resulted in the wages of claimants' carers being linked to earnings rather than to inflation.
The Government is now pressing ahead with plans for radical reform of the entire system for civil litigation funding and costs in England and Wales, after vowing to restore common sense to the system. The proposed changes will result in claimants' legal expenses being payable out of their own damages, rather than these costs being borne by the defendant.
However, a recent significant rise in compensation claims for medical negligence has now forced the Department of Health to bail out the NHS Litigation Authority to the tune of 185-million. The bailout payment is intended to cover the costs of compensation claims and legal fees incurred between January and April 2012.
Government figures indicate that the maximum possible amount for negligence payouts faced by the NHS, if all cases brought against it were lost, has rocketed over the past ten years. The figure rose from 5.31-billion in 2001 to 16.85-billion in 2011. Annual payouts over the same period grew from 277- million in 2000-01 to nearly 1-billion in 2010-11. The number of clinical negligence claims has also risen in the past five years, from 5,697 to 8,655 per year.
The Health Secretary Andrew Lansley indicated that a significant rise in "no-win, no-fee" claims is to blame for the rise in payouts. These claims are instigated by "claimant farmers" (better-known as "ambulance chasers") who encourage NHS patients to sue for negligence without needing to pay their own legal costs, whether or not they win the case. Under the present system the successful claimant's legal expenses are payable by the defendant, over and above any compensation awarded.
The Department for Health has joined forces with the Ministry of Justice in support of far-reaching proposals intended to clamp down on claimant farmers. Under the present system, according to a spokesman for the Ministry of Justice, "[t]he claimant lawyers are making a packet, as are the claimant farmers." The financial director of the NHS Litigation Authority, Tom Fothergill, has indicated that no-win, no fee lawyers had added a significant premium to costs, as had a recent legal ruling which has resulted in the wages of claimants' carers being linked to earnings rather than to inflation.
The Government is now pressing ahead with plans for radical reform of the entire system for civil litigation funding and costs in England and Wales, after vowing to restore common sense to the system. The proposed changes will result in claimants' legal expenses being payable out of their own damages, rather than these costs being borne by the defendant.