In NHS Resolution’s annual report, obstetrics account for 10.8% of clinical claims reported by volume, but make up 55% of all clinical claims by value received last year. 

NHS Resolution’s Annual Report and Accounts for last year show that 84% of clinical negligence claims were resolved without the need for formal legal proceedings. This is up from 83% last year. 

Nonetheless, the report also highlights that NHS Resolution received 15,236 new clinical negligence claims and reported incidents last year, an increase of 5.6% on the previous year. This reflects, it says, a combination of increased NHS activity and the time lag between incidents occurring and claims being brought.

At the start of the year, a report from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) found that not only has the government’s liability for clinical negligence quadrupled over the past two decades to £60 billion last year, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is unable to show any meaningful action taken to address this, and the NHS has not done enough to tackle the underlying causes of patient harm.

This built on the broader report published by the committee at the end of November that found that, despite spending £3.24 billion on transforming diagnostic and surgical services, NHS England has missed its recovery targets.

“We recognise the ongoing challenges across the system, and we will continue to work closely with government and partners to address these issues, while remaining focused on resolving claims fairly, sharing learning, and supporting safer care across the NHS. Helen Vernon,” chief executive of NHS Resolution. 

Helen Vernon, chief executive of NHS Resolution
Helen Vernon, chief executive of NHS Resolution

Maternity care remains an issue

With maternity care front and centre, thanks to both the Ockenden Review and Amos Report, drilling into the figures, it is hard not to see that maternity care remains an issue. 

While clinical negligence claims for trauma and orthopaedic surgery dropped last year from 1,324 claims to 1,129, they rose 10.3% in obstetrics from 1,286 to 1,418. 

Obstetric claims accounted for 10.8% of clinical claims reported by volume but made up 55% of all clinical claims by value received last year – the only field higher is emergency medicine. 

Of the total clinical negligence payments, 40% (£1.3 billion of the £3.2 billion) last year related to maternity. This is a very minor reduction from 42% the previous year. 

The report acknowledges the problem. “We recognise that avoidable errors in maternity and neonatal services still occur and that incidents have devastating consequences for the child, mother, and wider family, as well as the NHS staff involved,” it says. 

NHS Resolution emphasised that 90% of trusts which provide the Maternity (Perinatal) Incentive Scheme (MIS), a financial incentive programme designed to enhance maternity and neonatal safety within NHS trusts, were fully compliant with the highest levels of MIS standards to date. 

It also highlighted the Early Notification (EN) scheme, which supports families affected by specific brain injury at birth, enabling earlier investigation and reducing legal costs. NHS Resolution said that the scheme would be evaluated over the next year.