By Ken Thomas, medical negligence specialist and Lawyer of the Year at Harding Evans Solicitors.

It was reported last month that in 2003 £45million was paid out in compensation by health authorities here in Wales as a result of medical mistakes. That came on the same day that Labour MP Steven Byers said that front line healthcare delivery was being squeezed by increasing compensation costs.

But are such sweeping statements necessarily accurate? Or more often than not, misleading? There is no doubt that medical negligence claims cost the NHS in Wales an awful lot of money. I am acting on or investigating potential claims of on behalf of over 100 Gwent patients at any one time. Medical errors occur in our region just as in any other and to that extent, Gwent is no different to any other part of England or Wales. Our local NHS Trust here in Gwent, just like probably every other across the country, has its own dedicated legal services department.

However, to suggest that every patient who suffers as a result of a medical mistake rushes to see a solicitor and launches legal proceedings is untrue It has been suggested that across England and Wales there are perhaps as many as 800,000 medical mistakes every year. Statistically few patients take any action as a result. Some commentators suggest no more than 0.5% of those injured in hospital actually make a claim.

It has been said that the increased the numbers of people who do bring medical negligence claims can be put down to lawyers pursuing cases under “No Win, No Fee” Agreements. That is in fact again misguided since such Agreements are quite rare in clinical negligence matters. This is because Legal Aid is still available for injured patients who are financially eligible and the provision of such funding is inevitably tightly controlled.

Steven Byers somewhat surprisingly suggested that a “No Fault” compensation scheme should be introduced. In other words, anyone who suffers as a result of medical treatment that did not go to plan would be entitled to compensation. Currently, a patient succeeds with a claim only if it can be proven that he suffered avoidable injury as a result of medical neglect. In fact, the Government’s own Chief Medical Officer categorically rejected “No Fault” only last summer. Such a scheme would be astronomically expensive – it has been estimated that it could cost perhaps £4billion each year.

Replacing litigation with a “No Fault” Scheme would potentially lead to an increase in the level of errors. It is arguable that litigation has actually made the healthcare profession scrutinise its procedures more closely, taking steps to prevent mistakes being made and therefore cut down on compensation payouts.

Some argue there should be no right to compensation in any shape or form from the NHS. However, that would fly very much in the face of the basic principles of justice. Why should an individual badly injured as a result of a medical mistake have any less right to bring a claim as opposed to someone injured as a result of negligence in the workplace or on the roads?

Thankfully, the overwhelming majority of us receive a high standard of medical treatment. For those who are not so fortunate, they must be entitled to seek compensation to cover any losses (often substantial) that are incurred. By doing so, it must be hoped that lessons are learnt so that the likelihood of the rest of us encountering such treatment errors is reduced.