Ambulance-chasers push NHS fees bill to £200m

The price of compensation claims towards the NHS last 12 months reached £680 million, including £196 million for claimants’ solicitors.

Unscrupulous compensation attorneys are frequently named “ambulance chasers” simply because of their aggressive pursuit of claims on a no-win, no-charge basis.

The rising bill for compensation claims is especially damaging at a time when the NHS is dealing with serious economic pressures.

The NHS Litigation Authority, the physique that oversees the health service’s response to claims produced against it, is calling for the Government to cap the level of expenses for attorneys representing individuals.

Catherine Dixon, the head of the authority, explained: “They [some attorneys] are making an attempt to maximise their revenue. It would seem to me that it is out of kilter with the degree of damages they are in search of to recover from their clientele and defence costs.

“I really don’t believe that charging drastically higher expenses is acceptable, notably against a physique like the NHS which is searching after the well being of the nation.

“Access to justice is important, and it is appropriate that claimants’ solicitors are paid a honest sum for the perform they do. But I would rather see the extreme quantities we’re spending on costs going into patient care.”

Last yr, the legal fees of solicitors representing individuals have been three times higher than these for lawyers acting on behalf of the NHS.

Sufferers obtained £438 million in damages, but their solicitors were paid £196  million in charges. The bill for the NHS’s personal lawyers came to £46 million.

In circumstances in which the damages paid have been significantly less than £10,000, claimants’ solicitors were paid a complete of £23 million. This is more than twice the total of £9.eight million paid in damages beneath such instances.

Mrs Dixon mentioned the NHS could save £69 million each year if the price of lawyers representing patients was capped at the same degree as the price of the health service’s attorneys, plus an extra 20 per cent.

She extra that many solicitors are “front-loading” charges by hiring expert witnesses and conducting in depth investigations for fairly low-worth claims. “The concern for us is that there is an potential to incur a whole lot of value before the NHS is notified of the claim and there is no management above that,” she stated. “They will go away, they will ask for health care records from the hospital, and often consider expert [tips] preparing witness statements.

“There is a whole lot of scope for them to incur a whole lot of price on a case before we see it, even when the damages are very low. We’ve also seen an rising variety of poorly put collectively claims. It means that much more than 50 per cent of all the claims we see are resolved without having any damages or claimant solicitor fees currently being paid.”

The authority has offered The Sunday Telegraph with a listing of the law companies whose claims for costs have been substantially reduced following negotiations or court action.

One particular company, Fast Response Solicitors, based mostly in Hull, has claimed £2 million in fees for 47 situations over the past three many years. The claims were settled at £539,563.

Yet another company, Express Solicitors in Manchester, has claimed £1.four million in costs for thirty cases because 2010. The charges have been diminished to £779,063 after negotiations.

Mrs Dixon stated a developing variety of solicitors from the personal injury market are moving to NHS circumstances since they think the work is a lot more rewarding.

Ambulance-chasers push NHS fees bill to £200m