Health

Why are Medical Negligence Claims Rising in England and What Can be Done?

<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Let’s face facts&semi; there are few things more damaging or impactful than medical negligence&comma; both from a patient and a financial perspective&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Of course&comma; the potential damage done to patients as a result of medical negligence remains the single biggest concern for healthcare providers&comma; but the mounting cost of claims and legal fees in the UK is also having a huge impact on the NHS&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">But what’s the extent of rising claims values in the UK&comma; and why is this such a huge issue for healthcare providers&quest;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>The Facts and Figures<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">At present&comma; it’s estimated that the NHS in England faces paying out a staggering £4&period;3 billion in legal fees in the near-term&comma; in order to settle outstanding claims of medical and clinical negligence&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">This was revealed by the BBC following a Freedom of Information request&comma; which also found that the NHS in England <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;bbc&period;co&period;uk&sol;news&sol;health-51180944" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">currently receives in excess of 10&comma;000 new claims<&sol;a> for compensation each year&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">The proposed outlay includes ongoing&comma; unsettled claims and potential estimates pertaining to future disputes&comma; but while there’s room for the figures to change there’s little doubt that such costs are continuing to mount at an unsustainable rate&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Last year alone&comma; the potential cost of compensation claims peaked at £83 billion&comma; with this representing a huge swathe of NHS’s total budget &lpar;£129 billion&rpar;&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">The majority of these claims are thought to originate from an underlying failure to manage and optimise patient safety&comma; while the government’s Health Secretary Matt Hancock and his colleagues are coming under intense pressure to address the issue head-on&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h2>Exploring Key Triggers and Resolutions for the Future<&sol;h2>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">One of the key issues remains the continued underfunding of the NHS&comma; which the current Conservative government has pledged to reverse following nearly a decade of austerity measures&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">This has been impactful for two reasons&semi; both in terms of funding compensation pay-outs and the failure to create well-staffed and efficient departments within the NHS&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">In terms of the former&comma; hospital trusts in England currently contribute to a central fund called the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts&period; Administered by the NHS Resolution&comma; it’s estimated that the scheme received £1&period;9 billion per annum from trusts&comma; accounting for a disproportionate amount of NHS funding&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">As for the latter&comma; rising clinical vacancies and a fundamental lack of equipment in hospitals is continuing to impact on patient flow and leading to rising instances of misdiagnosis and <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;newsforpublic&period;com&sol;malpractice-cases-medical-business&sol;">medical malpractice<&sol;a>&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Another issue revolves around the lack of clarity and information often provided by medical authorities to the victims of malpractice&comma; which has in turn <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;beenletdown&period;co&period;uk&sol;medical-negligence&sol;" target&equals;"&lowbar;blank" rel&equals;"noopener">created growing demand for medical negligence experts<&sol;a> who can provide actionable advice and direct legal assistance&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Ultimately&comma; a sustained hike in NHS funding will make a difference to the overall patient experience&comma; while the incumbent government is also proposing sweeping reforms to the claims process and potentially impose compensation caps for lower-value cases&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; justify&semi;">Ensuring that any increased investment is spent wisely should also remain a key priority for the government in the NHS&comma; as a focus must be placed on improving efficiencies and negating the number of medical negligence claims processes in the first place&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;

Hardik Patel

Hardik Patel is a Digital Marketing Consultant and professional Blogger. He has 16+ years experience in SEO, SMO, SEM, Online reputation management, Affiliated Marketing and Content Marketing.

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