Figures related to “clinical negligence” expenses by the NHS in England appear to be ever on the rise! The Conservative Party says that next year the compensations handed out by NHS will rise by an estimated 80 percent – to £713 million from this year’s figures of £396 million.

According to the Conservatives, the substantial rise in NHS’ compensation amount will consume about one-third of the additional funds that the hospitals have received.

Calling the system floppy and “inefficient,” Mark Simmonds, Shadow health minister, commented on the NHS’ trusts “vast legal costs” in legal battles, and said that the enormous compensations will hit the hospital budgets hard.

Steve Walker, the NHS Litigation Authority CEO, said a large part of the rise in clinical negligence compensation figures resulted from the Thompstone judgment – the latest ruling in the Court of Appeal, which changes the methods of calculations of payments.

With more than one-half of the total compensation payments going to maternity-related cases, Professor Cathy Warwick, general secretary of the Royal College of Midwives, said that clinical negligence claims can drop if the maternity service receives adequate funding.

Acknowledging that the Department of Health has initiated an increase in the funds going into maternity care, Warwick also added: “It is critical that this money contributes to the development of a high quality service with a view to reducing clinical negligence claims.”