Medical And Clinical Negligence

The The NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA) is the organisation that acts on behalf of the NHS in cases of medical negligence in England. If you make a legal claim for medical negligence against the NHS, the NHSLA will be the party that defends the NHS against you in court, or alternatively, agrees to settle the case out of court. The NHSLA operates five different schemes under which claims are handled- the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts (CNST), the Existing Liabilities Scheme (ELS), the Ex-RHAs Scheme, the Liabilities to Third Parties Scheme and the Property Expenses Scheme.

There are three clinical schemes within the NHSLA:

The Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts is a scheme funded by the NHS Trusts, Foundation Trusts and Primary Care Trusts and handles clinical negligence claims arising out of incidents occuring after the 1 April 1995.

The Existing Liabilities Scheme covers clinical negligence claims arising out of incidents which occured before April 1995.

The Ex-RHAs Scheme covers any clinical liabilities incurred by the Regional Health Authorities before their abolition in April 1996 with the NHSLA itself acting as defendant.

There are also two non-clinical schemes:

The Liabilities to Third Parties Scheme covers non-clinical "third party" liabilities such as public and employers liability claims. Like the CNST, it is a voluntary scheme funded through members contributions.

The Property Expenses Scheme covers "first-party" losses by NHS bodies such as property loss or damage. Again it is a voluntary scheme, funded through members contributions.

The NHSLA received 5,470 claims (including potential claims) under its clinical negligence schemes and 3,380 claims (including potential claims) through its non clinical schemes in 2007/08. For this year the NHSLA made payments totalling £661.04 million in respect of all five schemes.

The average time taken to deal with a clinical claim under the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts is now 18 months, counting from the date of notification to the NHSLA to the date when compensation is agreeed.

In the period 1997 - 2008, 42% of clinical claims recieved by the NHSLA were settled out of court.