National Assembly for Wales

The NHS in Wales is working to reduce the cost of clinical negligence claims by robustly investigating things that go wrong and putting consistent measures in place to learn from its mistakes and prevent harm arising in the first place. Clinical care can never be risk free but we can take steps to reduce the risks. This is the key to addressing the costs of medical negligence.

In addition, a system of redress operates in NHS Wales under the Putting Things Right process, which allows for the settlement of claims under £25,000 without the need for legal action. This helps to reduce the very high legal costs which NHS bodies are obliged to pay in many cases.

The figure of £682m relates to information provided by Welsh Risk Pool Services (WRPS) and forms part of the Welsh Government provision at 31 March 2016, to cover the potential future liabilities, of the Welsh Risk Pool. The Welsh Risk Pool was established to administer the risk pooling arrangement for losses arising against NHS bodies. The scope of the WRPS includes losses over £25,000 predominantly relating to clinical negligence claims. The Welsh Government provision to WRPS is detailed at Annex 1. The figure of £682m for 2015-2016 compares to £674m for 2014-2015. A robust but fair approach is adopted by NHS Wales Legal and Risk services, on behalf of NHS Wales' bodies, for defending claims and a significant number are finalised without the need for financial settlement.

Annex 1

WAQ 71249
 
The Welsh Government provision for Welsh Risk Pool Services (WRPS) is made up of two main elements detailed below. the provision for claims in progress with at least a probable successful outcome for the claimant;the current and future structured settlements for claims that have been settled;