Conclusion 15

There is strong evidence that an administrative compensation scheme would provide better value for money to the taxpayer than clinical negligence litigation. There is significant potential to strip away the vast legal costs which account for over a quarter of all that is paid and introduce a system which is cheaper to administer. Furthermore, allowing NHS care to be included in the calculation of damages and basing calculations of loss of earnings on the national average wage would help to moderate the value of awards. An administrative compensation scheme introduced with the reforms we recommend would be more cost effective and more responsive to the needs of patients and families.