NHS medical negligence liabilities hit £60bn amid rise in maternity pay | NHS

Total NHS liabilities for medical negligence reached £60 billion, driven by a jump in birth injury cases that cost more than £11 million each on average to settle.

The total amount of money the Health Service in England may have to pay to settle lawsuits over staff wrongdoing has quadrupled from £14.4bn in 2006-07, amid more claims and rising legal costs.

The cost of settling clinical negligence claims has risen over the same period from £1.1 billion to £3.6 billion, with most of this jump relating to babies who suffer brain damage at birth.

The figures are contained in a report by the National Audit Office (NAO), which urged NHS chiefs to do more to prevent harm.

The £60 billion commitments identified by the NAO are an increase on the £58.2 billion set by the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in May.

Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, MP and chairman of the political action committee, said the £60bn bill was “astonishing”.

“This is the second largest responsibility at the government level [after public sector pensions] “Forecasts are that these costs will continue to grow significantly,” he said.

Over the period 2024-25, GP services accounted for the largest number of cases settled by the NHS – 2,914. However, while cases involving obstetrics where the baby was left with cerebral palsy or other brain damage were fewer in number – 1,016 – they were very expensive to settle.

These cases cost £1.6bn to settle, more than four times as much as the next most expensive type of injury – ‘other’ (£337m) – and paediatrics (£325m).

Gareth Davies, head of the National Audit Office, said: “While progress has been made in containing the number of clinical negligence claims in some specialties, the increasing cost of a small number of very high value claims is resulting in higher costs to taxpayers.”

The National Accountability Office revealed that maternity claims cost an average of £11.2 million each. It also revealed that:

• The neglect bill is expected to reach £4.1 billion in 2029-30

• The number of cases settled doubled from 5,625 in 2006-2007 to 13,329 in 2024-2025.

• The total number of settlements decreased in 11 specialties but increased in six others

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said: “There has been an unacceptable rise in the cost of clinical negligence claims – billions that should have been spent on frontline services.”

“From fixing our deteriorating safety landscape to understanding the serious problems in maternity care, this government is taking control of this problem and taking the decisive action that patients and taxpayers deserve.

“Our 10-year health plan makes clear that patient safety is the cornerstone of a healthy NHS, and we are working to ensure incidents leading to claims are reduced.”

Meanwhile, the total cost of reforming hospitals in England has risen to almost £16 billion, NHS figures show.

The revelations prompted NHS leaders to warn that patients were being put at risk from “dilapidated” buildings that were “crumbling in some cases, literally”.

The bill to repair and maintain NHS hospital stock right jumped from £13.8bn last year to £15.9bn – a 16% increase – according to the NHS Annual Property Revenue Information Collection dataset.

Daniel Elkeles, chief executive of NHS Providers, said: “Important parts of the NHS are falling apart, literally, after years of national underinvestment. The safety of patients and staff is at risk.

“We cannot continue to waste money propping up old buildings that are not fit for purpose.”

The £15.9bn figure is “more than the entire capital budget for this year and £2.2bn higher than last year”, said Siva Anandaseva, policy director at the King’s Fund thinktank.

He added: “Crumbling NHS buildings are having a real and detrimental impact on patient care, with regular examples of flooded corridors, reduced theater capacity and surfaces at risk of falling.”