Maternity Services: Negligence
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, pursuant to the Answer of 25 March 2025 to Question 38721 NHS: Negligence, how much are the steps outlined projected to reduce the cost of maternity negligence payments by NHS(R) in 2025.
Answered by Karin Smyth
NHS Resolution manages clinical negligence and other claims against the National Health Service in England. It is not always possible to correlate safety initiatives with negligence payments as there are multiple factors that impact claim volumes, including the legal market. Due to the time lags between an incident and a claim notification, and then between a notification and a settlement date, especially in maternity claims, it will take some time for safety incentives to impact the cost of negligence claims. In relation to the Avoiding Brain Injury in Childbirth programme, this is currently in its pilot stage. We will evaluate the impact of the programme following its national roll out, but it is expected to reduce the rising cost of clinical negligence.
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