NHS pays out £620m for errors

Negligence claims cost the NHS a record £620 million last year, it was revealed last night.

Patients damaged by medical blunders were paid a third more than the previous year.

And there are even bigger bills in the pipeline, with claims lodged for almost £4billion. The staggering figure represents around 10 per cent of the entire NHS budget for England.

The figures have increased concern among ministers, who fear the NHS is being targeted by aggressive lawyers encouraging patients to sue with 'no win, no fee' tactics.

Chief Medical Officer Professor Sir Liam Donaldson has been asked to find a new ' noblame' system for settling claims which speeds up the process and cuts the financial incentive for lawyers.

It could establish a tariff system for different injuries which would offer victims of misdiagnosis or medical mistakes the chance to avoid lengthy court battles by agreeing to fixed payouts.

Complaints against doctors quadrupled over the last 11 years, it emerged yesterday. In 1990 there were fewer than 1,000 complaints to the General Medical Council but in 2001, following scandals including the Shipman case and the Bristol heart surgery toll, there were 4,504.

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