With the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) set to release a report into reducing the cost of clinical negligence today (30 January), key dental organisations share their thoughts.
Thomas Reynolds, director of policy and communications at the Medical Defence Union (MDU)
It’s clear that Parliament has run out of patience with the failure of successive governments to take control of soaring clinical negligence costs. The MDU’s patience is equally, if not more, exhausted. MPs have now set a six-month deadline for action and we’ll be holding the government to account to make sure they meet it. We need concrete action to end this huge financial drain on the NHS and the public purse.
The MDU has been sounding the alarm bell for years about two issues the report highlights. We strongly support the recommendation to repeal outdated legislation which risks the NHS paying twice for claimants’ care. We are particularly pleased that the committee is supporting our call for data from government on the cost to the taxpayer of the current approach. Currently, there’s none – and that’s not good enough.
Secondly, capping legal fees for lower value clinical negligence cases can’t come soon enough to control spiralling claimant legal fees. We urge the government to get on with it and finally introduce fixed recoverable costs for lower value claims, which has been continuously delayed since the change of government in 2024.
‘Decades of inaction on clinical negligence’
We join the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in calling for publication of the long-awaited Lock review into the current clinical negligence regime. This review was commissioned as part of the NHS Year 10 Year Plan and is intended to outline to ministers how to fix the broken system. Given the public interest in this issue, that review’s findings and recommendations must see the light of day as quickly as possible. This is all about transparency.
Decades of inaction on clinical negligence have allowed costs to balloon, so we are pleased to see that MPs are putting pressure on government to act. This is a chance to put an end to the millions of pounds being unnecessarily diverted from frontline patient care. We‘ll be following next steps closely to ensure the Government sticks to the timetable that’s been set out and finally shifts the dial on this issue.
Chris Kenny, chief executive at Medical & Dental Defence Union of Scotland (MDDUS)
This report underlines the urgent need for the government to tackle the scale of clinical negligence costs in England and Wales. We welcome the Public Accounts Committee’s call for faster action, including the rapid publication of the Lock review, which we understand has been with ministers for several weeks and, crucially, a specific and deliverable action plan.
That plan needs to be as focused on improving patient safety as it is on driving excessive costs and unfounded claims out of the system. Without progress in both these areas, costs will continue to rise for the NHS without delivering better outcomes for patients or healthcare professionals.
It’s vital that the Government begins with clear legislative reform, including repeal of Section 2(4) of the Law Reform (Personal Injuries) Act 1948 and the introduction of a Fixed Recoverable Costs regime.
We’re now approaching 10 years since a Fixed Recoverable Costs regime was first proposed. At a minimum, the £25,000 threshold should be raised for inflation over that period, with an automatic inflation ratchet built in to control these rising costs. As the report shows, claims with damages of £25,000 or less in 2024-25 cost far more in fees than victims received.
Without decisive action from the government now, the clinical negligence system will remain unsustainable for everyone it’s meant to protect.
Follow Dentistry.co.uk on Instagram to keep up with all the latest dental news and trends.
