WIREDGOV

A panel of independent experts has backed a Scottish Government plan to reform the system of NHS compensation claims.

Set up by the Health Secretary in 2009, the No-Fault Compensation Review Group - headed by law and medical ethics expert Professor Sheila McLean - has now recommended changing the current adversarial court system to one of no-fault compensation.

The recommended change would mean patients who have suffered loss, injury or damage as a result of healthcare treatment could be compensated without having to take the NHS to court. The proposed new system would still require proof that harm was caused by treatment but would remove the need to prove negligence.

The review group's report suggests a no-fault system could have several benefits for patients and the health service:

• Fair and adequate compensation for harm suffered
• Quicker rehabilitation, which would no longer need to wait until legal action has been completed
• Broader eligibility criteria than the current system
• Greater scope for the NHS to learn from mistakes so that care can be improved
• More efficient use of public time and money
• Wider access to justice for patients, with the removal of the need to pay legal fees

The report suggests more patients could have claims resolved under such a system than currently achieve resolution through the courts - potentially for around the same costs as the NHS currently pays in compensation and legal fees.

No-fault systems are already in place in countries such as Sweden, New Zealand, Finland, Denmark and Norway, and parts of the United States.

Health Secretary Nicola Sturgeon said:

"The vast majority of the care delivered in our NHS is of the highest quality, but it is important that people who have suffered as a result of clinical mistakes should have some form of redress.

"Nevertheless, it's in no-one's best interests to have that redress delayed because a compensation claim can take years to go through the courts and nor is it in anyone's interests to have precious NHS resources spent on expensive legal fees.

"No-fault compensation would be a sensible way to ensure people who have been affected are compensated without tying up either patients or the health service in years of litigation. It's very encouraging that the review group's report has recommended this system.

"I'm grateful to them for their hard work over the last eighteen months. The next step now is to investigate thoroughly how such a scheme would work in practice - including further analysis of any cost implications - both for the benefit of individual patients and the good of the health service as a whole."

Chair of the No-Fault Compensation Review Group Professor Sheila McLean said:

"I am delighted that the Scottish Government has decided to accept the Review Group's recommendations and explore how a no-fault compensation system could be introduced in Scotland.

"It is important that the aim of any compensation scheme should be to facilitate access to justice, provide appropriate compensation for injured patients and ensure proper and timely adjudication of claims.

"The members of the Review Group were clear that the current system is not meeting the needs of patients, and will welcome the Scottish Government announcement."

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