NHS medical negligence persisting in England ‘despite 24 years of warnings’

Key Highlights

• Reports have been published since 2015 into maternity scandals in Morecambe Bay, East Kent, and Shrewsbury and Telford.
• Another inquiry is continuing into childbirth care in Nottingham. Last year, acute concern about maternity care across the NHS in England prompted Wes Streeting, the health secretary, to order an inquiry, led by Valerie Amos, into maternity care.“The PAC finds that, as government’s liability for clinical negligence quadrupled over 20 years (£60bn in 2024-25), the [Department of Health and Social Care] 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,” it said. The government’s liability for clinical negligence has quadrupled in real terms since 2006-07 and reached a record high of £60bn in 2024-25, the report said.“This is a swelling accounting of profound suffering,” Clifton-Brown said.
• “Each case can represent unspeakable devastation for the victims involved and the overall picture is of a system struggling to keep its patients safe from avoidable harm.”Evidence the PAC collected during its inquiry showed that the NHS was “overwhelmed” with the sheer number of recommendations various bodies had made to improve patient safety.
• Several safety watchdogs, official inquiries and coroners regularly suggested changes. The PAC found in the report that: The £3.6bn cost of medical negligence is diverting funds away from frontline NHS care.
• Lawsuits involving brain-damaged babies can take up to 12 years to settle.