State agency paid out €70m to resolve clinical negligence claims last year

The State Claims Agency resolved 487 clinical negligence claims last year costing €69.6m, an Oireachtas committee has been told.

At the end of 2014, the agency had 2,840 active clinical claims against hospitals and other healthcare agencies with an estimated outstanding liability of €1.1bn.

SCA director Ciarán Breen told the Joint Committee on Health and Children the agency received 609 clinical claims last year.

He pointed out maternity services related claims amounted to 23% of all new claims and 61% of the estimated liability of all new claims.

Chief executive of the Medical Protection Society Simon Kayll told the committee they had to increase their subscription rates in recent years because of the rate at which private consultants were being sued and the average size of those claims.

Mr Kayll said the indemnity cost for claims for private consultants had risen by over 95% between 2009 and 2014. The increase for GPs over the same period was 52%, and 62% for dentists.

Secretary general of the Irish Hospital Consultants Association Martin Varley said the cost of clinical indemnity had doubled for certain specialities in the past two years.

The annual indemnity charge for obstetrics was €337,000; it was €104,000 for neurosurgery and spinal surgery and €97,500 for bariatric surgery, gynaecology, orthopaedics, plastic surgery and laser surgery.

He said an estimated 20 consultants had ceased private practice last year because clinical indemnity had become unaffordable and more were planning to cease this year.

IMO president Prof Trevor Duffy called for alternative dispute resolution mechanisms to the courts such as mediation, arbitration or collaborative practice.

Collaborative practice requires the patients and their family, healthcare professionals, solicitors and insurers to commit to an open and transparent resolution of their dispute without going to court.

Fine Gael senator Colm Burke said the Government must review the indemnity ceiling set by the State.

Currently, €1.8m is covered by the Medical Protection Society on medical negligence claims and the State pays the balance.

He said the Government should review the cut-off point so that insurance companies could reduce premiums.

Oncologist and independent senator Prof John Crown said Ireland was a “uniquely dangerous environment in which to practise medicine” in terms of the risk of litigation.

“Statistically, an Irish doctor is more likely to be sued than a doctor somewhere else because they are having far more interactions,” said Prof Crown.