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Medical Negligence Claims
3. Dr. Tony Wright: What was the cost to the NHS last year of medical negligence claims. [34371]
The Minister for Public Health (Ms Tessa Jowell): The cost of clinical negligence to the Department of Health in 1996-97 was £300 million, £235 million of which was a cost to the national health service that was largely made up of provision for probable future settlements. The remaining £65 million was a direct cash cost to the Department of Health under the existing liabilities scheme.
Dr. Wright: Does not every health authority and trust face rapidly escalating bills for medical negligence claims? Every pound spent on defending such claims is a pound less spent on patient care, which is unsustainable. Is not the way forward the clear separation of complaints against doctors from compensation for medical accidents and a no-fault medical injuries compensation scheme?
Ms Jowell: The Government do not intend to establish a no-fault compensation scheme; instead, we intend to drive up the standards of treatment in the national health service that lie behind so many negligence claims. We want to keep doctors out of court, and lawyers out of the operating theatre. We want a national health service in which doctors and nurses are in the driving seat, not judges and lawyers.
Mr. Wardle: Will the Minister reconsider the plight of women who suffer permanent injury and disability as a
result of radiotherapy treatment for breast cancer, who are represented by the campaign RAGE--Radiotherapy Action Group Exposure? Rather than insisting that negligence in the limited number of cases involved should be proved in the courts, will the Minister agree to compensation now, so that the matter can be settled without further agonising delay?
Ms Jowell: It is utterly cynical of the hon. Gentleman to seek to secure compensation on the Floor of the House. He will be aware that my hon. Friend the Minister of State has met representatives of RAGE a number of times. The Government's policy is clear: that compensation will be paid when negligence is established in court. That, we believe, is the right way in which to protect patients, and to safeguard the precious resources of the national health service for patient care.
Mrs. Betty Williams: In view of recent events in my local NHS hospital trust, is my hon. Friend prepared to consider tightening procedures for the employment of NHS staff?
Ms Jowell: If my hon. Friend writes to me about matters of particular concern in the context of medical negligence, I shall be happy to deal with them.
Ms Roseanna Cunningham: May I return to the question of accepting liability for harm done? The Minister will know that a great many haemophiliacs have contracted hepatitis C from blood donations. Her Department has already paid money to those who have contracted HIV, and I know that the Secretary of State met representatives of haemophiliacs in September last year and promised them a speedy response to the issues that they had raised. Will the Minister enlighten us about what has happened between last September and today, so that I can avoid being instructed--in another capacity entirely--by haemophiliacs to pursue a case against the Government?
Ms Jowell: My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State met representatives of the Haemophilia Society last year, and the content of that discussion is currently under consideration. As the hon. Lady is doubtless aware, my right hon. Friend recently announced the Government's intention to make recombinant factor VIII available to children.
Mr. Robert McCartney: Is the Minister aware of the distinction between cases in which there is clearly no answer to the question of liability in regard to medical negligence--cases in which the Government should come clean, admit that there has been negligence and dispose of the claims--and the variety of other cases of an individual kind in which negligence must be clearly established in accordance with the normal processes in the court? Is that not a valid distinction that the Government should take on board?
Ms Jowell: We fully take on board the scale of human misery that litigation causes in such cases, but it is important for the House to know that only 17 per cent. of cases taken to court succeed. In the 83 per cent. that fail, the only person who walks away with a cheque is the lawyer.
Barnet and Edgware Hospitals
4. Mr. Clappison: If he will visit (a) Barnet and (b) Edgware hospitals to discuss health provision in north London and south Hertfordshire. [34372]
Mr. Milburn: We have no plans at present to visit either hospital.
Mr. Clappison: Is the Minister aware that the trust concerned with Barnet and Edgware hospitals is proposing a programme of service cuts that will result in the loss of one quarter of in-patient beds? If that happens, there is precious little hope for an improvement in waiting lists or anything else for the residents of north London and south Hertfordshire. Despite all the talk of money and improvements in waiting lists, will the Minister take a look at the trust's financial situation and ensure that the service offered to my constituents does not fall below that offered elsewhere in the country?
Mr. Milburn: I am aware of the concerns in the local community about the issue and the difficult position in which the health authority finds itself--having to sort out the legacy left by the previous Administration. The trust, the health authority and the regional office are working very closely to ensure the best possible outcome for the local community.
Audrey Wise: Will my hon. Friend take note that at least one good thing has come from what I am afraid I think was a mess over Barnet and Edgware: the establishment of a very progressive birth centre, which will be opening officially very soon? Will he wish that birth centre all the best, keep an eye on it and ensure that it does not become a temporary project, to be discontinued as soon as its value is proven, as is happening to so many useful maternity projects at the moment?
Mr. Milburn: My hon. Friend makes an extremely good point. Thanks to all the efforts in the local community over the past few months, we have the option in the Edgware area of a high-quality community hospital, which will blaze a trail that many others will follow. Much work has been done, involving the community health council, some of my hon. Friends' local campaign groups and local GPs, to ensure that the best possible services are provided for the Edgware community.
Eye and Dental Checks
5. Mr. Wallace: If he will make it his policy to reinstate free eye and dental checks. [34373]
Ms Jowell: The question is being addressed as part of the comprehensive spending review of all Departments' expenditure. The review is being carried out in the context of the Government's clear election manifesto commitment that,
- "if you are ill or injured there will be a national health service there to help; and access to it will be based on need and need alone".
Ms Jowell: On the deliberations of the comprehensive spending review, the hon. and learned Gentleman will simply have to wait. It is however important that prevention is available wherever possible. Forty per cent. of people are eligible for free sight tests due to risk of conditions such as glaucoma and diabetes. It is extremely important that every encouragement be given to people to take up such eligibility.
The Government have recently announced a total of £19 million-worth of investment in dentistry in order to tackle inequality of access in some of the poorest parts of the country.
Mr. Blizzard:
Does my hon. Friend agree that the best way in which to restore all parts of the health service, such as free eye and dental checks, is to make sustainable increases in expenditure, rather than adopt the method proposed by the Liberal Democrats, which would serve only to raise expectations, which would later be met with cuts, as the magic penny would fail to deliver the kind of money about which they are always talking?
Ms Jowell:
My hon. Friend is right. Spraying around spending commitments is the prerogative of a party that will always be in opposition. The people of this country did the best thing for the national health service by electing a Labour Government last year.
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