The consultation on fixed recoverable costs in lower value clinical negligence claims ignores the role of the NHSLA, says Agata Usewicz
The timing of the Department of Health’s long-awaited consultation Introducing Fixed Recoverable Costs in Lower Value Clinical Negligence Claims raised more than a few eyebrows when it was launched at the end of January, not least because the consultation will open and close before the National Audit Office’s (NAO) investigation into the operations and efficiencies of the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA) will report its findings.
While we can all be thankful that the proposed cap is set at £25,000, rather than the £250,000 which had been mooted prior to the consultation, there remains a very real risk that vulnerable and already disadvantaged groups of people will simply not be able to access justice.
Anomalous exemption
One thing that strikes me as particularly anomalous in the consultation is that one of the very few proposed exemptions to fixed recoverable costs is child fatalities. While I wholeheartedly agree that these should not be capped, nor should any type of fatal claim. All fatalities, still-births, claimants lacking mental or
