Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 15
15
Acknowledged
Clinical negligence cases impose significant monetary costs on taxpayers, totalling £2.8 billion.
Conclusion
The Department recognised that each incidence of clinical negligence has a tragedy behind it involving a patient. It told us that while the optimal number of clinical negligence cases would be zero, this will never be a practical target. Clinical negligence also comes with a monetary cost to the taxpayer. The Department is required to make compensation payments for pain suffered and the impact on the everyday lives of those who have suffered negligence. In 2023–24, NHS Resolution, which administers claims of clinical negligence for the Department, paid £2.8 billion in cash to claimants.22
Government Response Summary
The government agrees with the committee's findings, stating it will continue to prioritize patient safety and a learning culture through ongoing work under the NHS Patient Safety Strategy. This strategy, which aims to reduce harmful patient events, will be reviewed and updated in autumn 2025.
Government Response
Acknowledged
HM Government
Acknowledged
4.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Target implementation date: April 2026 4.2 The department and NHS England will continue to prioritise patient safety and a learning culture across the NHS so that harmful patient events are significantly reduced. 4.3 This includes ongoing work to progress key measures under the NHS Patient Safety Strategy, which sets out how the NHS would improve patient safety continuously. NHS England now estimate that work under the strategy is saving around 1000 lives and over £100 million in care costs each year. Initiatives such as the rollout of Martha’s Rule, and implementation of the Patient Safety Incident Response Framework and the new statutory medical examiner system are making a real difference. Following publication of the 10 Year Health Plan, and then publication of an overarching Quality Strategy, NHS England will review and update the NHS Patient Safety Strategy. This work will begin once the Quality Strategy is published, currently planned for later in the autumn of 2025. 4.4. Although major efforts and other key initiatives are being progressed to promote the way safety is approached in the NHS, the department acknowledges that progress to improve patient safety and reduce patient harm is unevenly distributed and that the development of cultures of safety and learning is inconsistent.