Select committee: Health and Social Care Committee
Conclusion 18
Fourth Report - The safety of maternity services in England
Published 6 Jul 2021
Paragraph 102
Addressed to Department of Health and Social Care
Health and Social Care Committee Safety of maternity services in England All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
Providing appropriate financial redress to families after an incident is important. However, the rising costs of maternity claims without sufficient learning and outdated mechanisms for calculating compensation is unsustainable. It is particularly unfair that wealthier families receive more compensation for a severely disabled child than poorer families because likely lost earnings are taken into account. Therefore, we welcome the Government’s proposal to review clinical negligence in the NHS more broadly. We note that elements of the Rapid Resolution and Redress scheme have been implemented. However, we are disappointed that the scheme has not be been implemented in full. Until it is, there is a high risk that the fundamental changes needed to improve the safety of maternity services will fail to be achieved.
From: Health and Social Care Committee, Fourth Report - The safety of maternity services in England (HC 19), paragraph 102, 6 July 2021
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 21 September 2021 (deadline 6 September 2021).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The Government welcomes the Committee's report and responds to each of its 15 recommendations, accepting some in full or in part, rejecting one and stating that it is considering others.
- On the recommended £200-350m a year funding increase, the Government says it "is considering this recommendation" and will take the recommendations on funding for staffing "into consideration", alongside an assessment of midwifery and obstetric workforce levels.
- It "accepts" the recommendations on obstetric training posts, safety training targets, and training for Continuity of Carer, while accepting others only "in part", including ringfenced training budgets and a disparity target.
- It rejects the Rapid Redress and Resolution Scheme, stating it "does not intend to put in place" the scheme, and that the scheme "did not address the high and rising cost of clinical negligence cases".
- On litigation reform and compensation, the Government says it will publish a consultation, and "Decisions on next steps will be taken following the consultation".