Darzi Report: Medical Negligence Claims Hit Record Levels

Ten years of decline

The past decade has witnessed the NHS in England fall into disrepair resulting in a damning rise in medical negligence claims, Darzi report finds.

The government-commissioned independent review of the state of NHS England has concluded that ‘complaints have nearly doubled’ and that medical negligence claims are now the largest liability on the government’s balance sheet aside from pensions and nuclear decommissioning.

Complaints and medical negligence claims

Darzi points out that patient satisfaction with NHS services has declined to its lowest ever level and the number of complaints has significantly increased.

To put this into context, the report states that the NHS received 14,615 formal complaints in 2011/12, rising to a striking 28,780 complaints by 2023/24.

In respect of medical negligence payments, the report has found that the NHS is paying out ‘record sums’ in compensation payouts for failings in care, particularly in obstetrics. In the year 2023/24, such payments increased to £2.9 billion overall (or 1.7% of the entire NHS budget).

Rather alarmingly, this figure represents more than the combined budget of every GP practice in the Midlands.

It is therefore unsurprising that NHS England has been described as an ‘outlier’ in clinical negligence payments when it is devoting double the share of total health spending as New Zealand, ten times the level of Australia and twenty times as much as Canada.

Quality of care in the NHS

Overall, the report paints a devastating picture of the critical condition of NHS England:

• Waiting times for hospital procedures have ‘ballooned’ as long waits have become normalised.
• A&E is considered to be in an ‘awful state’ with nearly 10% of all patients now waiting for 12 hours or more.
• Far too many lives are being lost to avoidable causes, meaning that they are either preventable or treatable.
• Cancer care still lags behind other countries with the UK having substantially higher cancer mortality rates than other countries.

Darzi has identified four key drivers of NHS England’s current dire state: austerity and lack of capital investment; the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic; lack of patient voice and staff engagement; and management structures and systems.

Crucially, the report states that ‘the NHS delayed, cancelled or postponed far more routine care during the pandemic than any comparable health system.’ The Covid-19 pandemic thus remains an ongoing challenge for NHS England in terms of coping with care backlogs.

Unfortunately, it will take years to get the NHS in England back to peak performance, according to Darzi.

How can Irvings Law help you?

Here at Irvings, we have a dedicated team of specialist medical negligence solicitors who would be happy to discuss how we can help you and your family. We will be on hand every step of the way to offer both assistance and our expertise. We will fight to secure the maximum amount of compensation needed to meet your needs.

If you are seeking free, confidential initial advice from experienced clinical negligence solicitors (on a ‘No Win, No Fee’ basis), contact Irvings Law on 0151 475 1999 or alternatively via email at Clin.Neg@IrvingsLaw.com.