House of Lords

Written answer

9 November 2022

NHS: Negligence

Asked by Lord Hunt of Kings Heath

To ask His Majesty’s Government, further to the
Written Answer by Baroness Bloomfield of Hinton
Waldrist on 26 September (HL2123), how many of the
30 clinical negligence claims taken to trial in 2021/22
went to (1) the High Court, or (2) the County Courts.
[HL3056]

Lord Markham: Following our previous response,
NHS Resolution has reviewed the 30 cases taken to trial.
It has subsequently identified that one claim was
incorrectly classified as having been taken to trial. NHS
Resolution has confirmed that of the 29 clinical
negligence claims taken to trial in 2021/22, nine were
heard in the higher courts, including the High Court and
20 in the county courts.

Comment

Last year there were 13,070 clinical negligence claims against NHS resulting in 29 Court trials

One of the purposes of the civil procedure rules and the court system is to encourage parties to see full court trials as a choice of last resort.