The NHS provides care and treatment to the public, and in doing so, it is open to claims from patients when this care or treatment falls below an acceptable standard of care. Unfortunately, these claims have consistently risen over the last 14 years.
Beecham Peacock, a medical negligence solicitors in the North East, have revealed the true extent of medical negligence claims against the NHS – including how likely you are to have a claim settled based on trends over the last decade. This information has been passed onto Digital Journal for review.
The information was gleaned by analysing NHS Resolution Centre data on negligence claims from 2006 to 2024, covering claims of differing specialities and varying amounts. NHS Resolution is an arm’s length body of the Department of Health and Social Care.
The NHS is still a loved institution in the UK, with a 2023 poll finding that the NHS was the highest-ranking source of British pride, topping 54% of the public’s list, more so than British history (32%), culture (26%) and democracy (25%). However, reports show NHS payouts for medical negligence claims hit a new annual high of £2.8 billion last year.
How have NHS medical negligence claims changed over time?
In the year 2006/07, there was a total of 5,426 new claims against the NHS for clinical negligence, relating to instances arising from a range of services, including paediatrics, neurosurgery, ambulance-related injury and more.
Moving on to the year 2023/24, there was a total of 13,784 claims, an overall change of 154.04% or 2.02% year-on-year. Regarding claims relating to individual services, the greatest overall increase in new claims comes from Radiology services, with a rise from 86 claims in 2006-2007 to 498 claims in 2023/24 – a rise of 479.07% in 14 years.
For year-on-year increases, the largest increase in new claims relates to ambulances. Rising from 68 claims per year in 2006/07 to 214 claims per year in 2023/24 – an increase of 12.04% every year.
“The rise in new medical negligence claims against the NHS can be seen and felt across the board. We see it first-hand with more clients walking through the door,” says Vicki Wanless, medical negligence solicitor at Beecham Peacock tells Digital Journal.
“In a way, it is natural to expect some rise over this gap, considering the UK’s population has also seen a considerable rise within this time frame – a rise of roughly seven million. However, this rise in overall new claims has risen significantly since the pandemic, a time many consider to be a breaking point in pressure on the NHS,” Wanless continues.
“Overall new claims rose by 44 between 2006/07 to 2007/08, rising again by 618 between 2007/08 to 2008/09, and another 601 the year after. Between 2019/20 and 2021/22 (the years dominated by COVID-19), there was an increase of 3,401.”
How many claims are being won?
As the number of claims increases, so does the number of claimant wins, with the data showing a surprisingly high success rate for medical negligence claims against the NHS.
Analysis of 2023/2024, the most recent NHS statistics, shows a total of 10,275 settled claims against the NHS – the eighth-highest number of wins in the last 14 years.
“Over the last five years, claim wins have remained very consistent, with marginal variance in terms of the number of claim winners,” explains Wanless. “The biggest year for claim settlements was 2016/17, with 12,293 settlements – 2,018 more claims than in 2023/24.
“The most interesting takeaway from this data is how much more consistent solicitors have become in winning claims. In the nine years between 2007/07 and 2014/15, total settlements rose from 5,610 a year to 10,204 a year – with settlements averaging out at 10,801.8 per year for the years 2015-2024.
“In 2023/24 there were 13,784 claims and 10,275 settlements – that’s a success rate of 74.55% if you made a claim tomorrow.”
How much settlement money is being awarded?
Although individual case details are not disclosed in the full dataset, the data does include the range of settlement payouts. This includes the highest settlement amounts and the number of cases won each year within each payment range.
“A payment of £4,750,000+ in 2006/07 was rare, but it wasn’t unheard of,” says Wanless. “There were nine cases of £4,750,000+ settlements in both 2006/7 and 2007/08– a number that shot up to 30 in 2008/09. The most common settlement payout range in 2006/07 was £1,501 – £25,000, totalling 1,654 settlements.
“Compare this data to 2023/24, and you will notice a huge increase in payout costs across the board,” Wanless continues. “There were 139 payouts of £4,750,000+, an overall change of 1444.44%. The most common payout was in the range of £1,501-£25,000 (2,853 settlements), followed by £25,001-£50,000 (1,061 settlements) and £50,001-£100,000 (745 settlements).”
