About the NHS Litigation Authority
Welcome to the NHS Litigation Authority’s website. The NHSLA is a Special Health Authority (part of the NHS), responsible for handling negligence claims made against NHS bodies in England. In addition to dealing with claims when they arise, we have an active risk management programme to help raise standards of care in the NHS and hence reduce the number of incidents leading to claims. We also monitor human rights case-law on behalf of the NHS through our Human Rights Act Information Service. Since April 2005 we have been responsible for handling family health services appeals and in August 2005 we acquired the further function of co-ordinating equal pay claims on behalf of the NHS.
We were first established in 1995 and our remit, as agreed with the Department of Health, is set out in our Framework Document. We obtain feedback from NHS bodies who are members of our schemes through our Policy Advisory Group and from clinicians through our Professional Advisory Panel.
More information about our functions is available in our current Annual Report and in our NHSLA Factsheet series. Factsheet 1 provides background information about the Authority; Factsheet 2 financial information; Factsheet 3 claims information (England-wide), Factsheet 4 details of the levels achieved by all NHS trusts and PCTs in the NHSLA's risk management assessments; and Factsheet 5 details of the number of claims brought against individual NHS trusts and PCTs and the amount paid out on behalf of each trust/PCT in the last financial year. Earlier editions of Factsheet 5 can be accessed via our Publications page. Factsheet 6 provides statistical information on the various workstreams of the Family Health Services Appeals Unit.
Key facts
· In 2006-07, 5,426 claims of clinical negligence and 3,293 claims of non-clinical negligence against NHS bodies were received by the NHSLA. This compares with 5,697 claims of clinical negligence and 3,497 claims of non-clinical negligence in 2005-06.
· £579.3 million was paid out in connection with clinical negligence claims in 2006-07. This figure includes both damages paid to patients and the legal costs borne by the NHS. In 2005-06, the comparable figure was £560.3 million. The figures for non-clinical claims are £33.9 million for 2006-07 and £31.3 million for 2005-06.
· The average time taken to deal with a clinical claim under the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts, from notification of the claim to the NHSLA to the date when damages are agreed (or the claim is discontinued), is 1.46 years.
· The NHSLA estimates that its total liabilities (the theoretical cost of paying all outstanding claims immediately, including those relating to incidents which have occurred but have not yet been reported to us) are £9.09 billion for clinical claims and £0.13 billion for non-clinical claims.
· 96% of the NHSLA's cases are settled out of court through a variety of methods of "alternative dispute resolution" (ADR): an analysis of all clinical claims handled by the NHSLA over the past ten years shows that 41% were abandoned by the claimant, 41% settled out of court, 4% settled in court (mainly court approvals of negotiated settlements) and 14% remain outstanding. Fewer than 50 clinical negligence cases a year are contested in court.
· More information is found in our Annual Report and in our Factsheet 2 (financial information) and Factsheet 3 (claims information).