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Personal Injury News
NHS 'pays for its mistakes'
A leading personal injury lawyer has attacked claims by Labour MP Stephen Byers that the growing compensation culture is crippling public services.
Simon John, of Norfolk firm Cunningham John, claims that NHS errors are costing the service far more than compensation, saying the service should focus on accident reduction not reducing claims.
His comments, in an 80-page paper sent to the Government, come after Mr Byers said the blame, claim and gain culture was costing the NHS £477m a year - enough to hire 22,700 nurses.
The former trade secretary, himself a lawyer, called for a public debate and suggested measures such as limiting the amount of compensation that can be claimed or even ending cash payouts altogether.
Simon John has fought dozens of clinical negligence and personal injury claims in his 35-year career, winning compensation running into tens of millions.
Nearly 11pc of people admitted to NHS hospitals suffer an accident - over 900,000 every year. Of those injured in hospital, less than one in 200 make a claim, he said.
Some compensation culture! Even with road traffic accidents only 60pc of those injured make a claim. What is crippling the NHS is the cost to it of its own errors.
The short term cost, in extended inpatient bed days, is accepted by the Department of Health as £2bn per year - four or five times the cost of claims.
A Department of Health spokesman said Mr Byers was expressing his own views, not those of the Government, and added: We want to ensure that money spent on claims is going to the patients who deserve it, not on legal costs.
We are also working to reduce mistakes and near misses, whether or not they result in a claim.
MATHEW GOSTELOW (www.edp24.com): 20/03/2004
NHS 'pays for its mistakes'
A leading personal injury lawyer has attacked claims by Labour MP Stephen Byers that the growing compensation culture is crippling public services.
Simon John, of Norfolk firm Cunningham John, claims that NHS errors are costing the service far more than compensation, saying the service should focus on accident reduction not reducing claims.
His comments, in an 80-page paper sent to the Government, come after Mr Byers said the blame, claim and gain culture was costing the NHS £477m a year - enough to hire 22,700 nurses.
The former trade secretary, himself a lawyer, called for a public debate and suggested measures such as limiting the amount of compensation that can be claimed or even ending cash payouts altogether.
Simon John has fought dozens of clinical negligence and personal injury claims in his 35-year career, winning compensation running into tens of millions.
Nearly 11pc of people admitted to NHS hospitals suffer an accident - over 900,000 every year. Of those injured in hospital, less than one in 200 make a claim, he said.
Some compensation culture! Even with road traffic accidents only 60pc of those injured make a claim. What is crippling the NHS is the cost to it of its own errors.
The short term cost, in extended inpatient bed days, is accepted by the Department of Health as £2bn per year - four or five times the cost of claims.
A Department of Health spokesman said Mr Byers was expressing his own views, not those of the Government, and added: We want to ensure that money spent on claims is going to the patients who deserve it, not on legal costs.
We are also working to reduce mistakes and near misses, whether or not they result in a claim.
MATHEW GOSTELOW (www.edp24.com): 20/03/2004