Abolish clinical negligence system, establish expert group for alternative patient compensation.

The Index has not yet recorded a verbatim government response to this recommendation.

The system for managing medical negligence is not administrative. Determining compensation is conducted through litigation in the civil court system and based on long established principles of tort law. Changes have been made to the way claims are handled and resolved. NHS Resolution is the Arm's Length body of DHSC which provides expertise to the NHS on resolving concerns and disputes fairly and sharing learning for improvement and preserving resources for patient care.

In recent years, NHSR has made good progress in improving claims handling, resolution speed, learning from claims and supporting families. This has included:

• Learning from claims and data sharing: NHSR manages ongoing work to analyse claims for clinical safety issues and liaises closely with NHS Trusts, the CQC and the HSSIB to identify safety risks and disseminate learning.

• the Early Notification scheme: NHSR has implemented a scheme for the early reporting and accelerated legal investigation in certain types of maternity cases to support families and NHS Trusts, share learning, investigate earlier and meet children’s needs earlier through early interim payments;

• the Maternity Incentive Scheme: NHSR introduced a scheme to provide financial incentives within the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts to improve maternity safety;

• Improving claims resolution: NHSR has made progress in resolving claims more quickly by alternative dispute resolution, including increased use of mediation. Only 66% per cent of such claims were resolved without formal court proceedings in 2016/17. In 2023/24, this had increased to 81% of claims, with only 0.2% of claims going to trial.

The Government agreed with this recommendation.

In its January 2002 response, the Department of Health said it had announced plans to produce a White Paper early in 2002, discussing options for reform to the system for dealing with clinical negligence claims.

A report was published by the Department of Health in July 2003, setting out proposals for reforming the approach to clinical negligence in the NHS. The NHS Redress Act 2006, containing provisions for the establishment of a redress scheme outside the scope of civil proceedings, was enacted but never brought into force.