State sets aside €60m for medical claims

THE state has set aside a €60 million war-chest to pay for a series of clinical negligence claims this year.

Figures detailed in the budget allocation for 2010 show the major sum of money will be provided to the State Claims Agency to cope with a surge in claims payouts against doctors and medical facilities.

In the 2009 budget a total of €30 million was provided to the Department of Health to cope with the rise in cases, with a further €16m allocated to the State Claims Agency when it took over full responsibility for clinical negligence cases in July.

The €60m set aside represents a 275% rise on the 2009 State Claims Agency allocation of €16m and a year-on-year increase of €14m on the overall €46m provided this year.

The cost increase also contrasts sharply with a series of painful financial measures outlined in the recent budget, including the 50c charge on all prescriptions and a slashing in half of social welfare payments for new 20 to 21-year-old claimants.

Reacting to the figures, Ciaran Breen, chief executive of the State Claims Agency, said the budget allocation was a “provisional” cost and was partially the result of cases in 2008 and 2009 which have yet to be concluded.

He added that the state body is planning to introduce a new claims system in late 2010 which would see clinical negligence awards paid out over a phased basis instead of a single lump sum – significantly reducing the immediate costs facing the exchequer.

According to the State Claims Agency, the most common clinical negligence complaints in recent years involved surgery complications (25%), obstetrics (20%), emergency department issues (12%) and incorrect or damaging medicine doses (11%).

The most expensive speciality when claims were made was obstetrics, which over the past two years has accounted for 60% of clinical negligence claim costs.

The State Claims Agency examines approximately 1,850 live cases at any one time.

Among the most troubling mistakes recorded last year were patients receiving the wrong medication (6,785 cases), incorrect diagnoses (2,051), blood transfusion incidents (824) and mistakes in medical records (5,070).