Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 16
16
Acknowledged
Department's clinical negligence liability reaches £58.2 billion, ranking second largest across government.
Conclusion
The Department recognises an amount for potential future compensation payments for incidents of clinical negligence in its financial statements as a liability. This is reported in the accounts of NHS Resolution and is consolidated into the Departmental Group accounts. The Department recognised a liability of £58.2 billion in its 2023–24 accounts to cover the expected potential future costs of compensation for clinical negligence, which included £9.3 billion set aside to cover incidents that occurred in 2023–24. The Department has identified a further £24.6 billion of clinical negligence claims which it does not recognise as a liability but may need to pay in the future.23 The Department’s clinical negligence liability is the second largest liability across government.24 22 Q 59; Department of Health and Social Care Annual Report and Accounts 2023–24, pages 262, 308; NHS Resolution, Annual Report and Accounts 2023/24, HC 73, 23 July 2024, pages 29, 166–167 23 Department of Health and Social Care Annual Report and Accounts 2023–24, pages 262, 306; NHS Resolution, Annual Report and Accounts 2023/24, HC 73, 23 July 2024, pages 166–167, 188–189 24 Whole of Government Accounts, year ended 31 March 2023, HC 289, 26 November 2024, page 67 15
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.