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Medical errors should be prevented in the first place rather than blaming lawyers' fees

The NHS Litigation Authority are estimating that in the year 2015/16 £1.4 billion will be spent of negligence claims and legal fees. However, no clear breakdown is provided as to what part of that figure amounts to compensation and what to lawyers’ fees, and how the latter is split between lawyers acting on behalf of patients and those acting on behalf of the NHSLA.

The figure is undoubtedly high and everyone would like to see it reduced. However, the way to reduce it is not to tackle the legal costs first and foremost but, instead, to prevent errors in medical treatment happening in the first place.

The vast majority of the £1.4 billion figure referred to will be made up by the compensation paid out to victims which can often include many years of high levels of care, specialist equipment and more suitable accommodation.

Therefore, to seek to restrict lawyers’ fees by, for example, setting fixed costs in smaller cases, will not have any discernible impact on the £1.4 billion but instead will mean that many patients who are injured at hospital will go without a legal remedy and will not benefit from any compensation at all.