Ten years on from an appraisal of litigation against English Health Trusts in otolaryngology: What have we learnt?

Abstract

NHS Resolution provides indemnity cover for legal claims against the NHS, assists the NHS with risk management and aims to share lessons from claims in order to improve safety. The study aimed to investigate the financial costs of litigation against English Health Trusts in otolaryngology over a 10-year period, to see if any lessons have been learned and identify trends that may lead to a potential reduction in costs and improve patient safety. A Freedom of Information request was made to NHS Resolution for information regarding claims made to otolaryngology departments over the last 10 years. There was a total of 612 successful claims in the 10-year period between 2008/2009 and 2017/2018 with costs of nearly £87 million. Overall, the costs of litigation have increased dramatically, and the main areas for these successful claims can be identified, but restrictions in the detail of information released allows too little insight for improvements to be made to avoid them in future. This continues to be a major problem for healthcare funding and practice.