Quarter of NHS Budget to be Used for Medical Negligence Claims

The National Health Service has set aside £26 billion to cover Medical Negligence claims against NHS Hospitals.

This amounts to almost a quarter of the annual health budget to cover the legal claims against the health service. In 2014, over £1.3 billion was paid out to cover medical negligence claims.

It has transpired that the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt may be revealing new plans to fine Hospitals which are dishonest about medical mistakes.

Mr Hunt said, “Being open and learning from mistakes is crucial to improving patient care. The NHS is a world class service but when mistakes happen it is vital that we face them head on and learn so they are never repeated”.

There has been some concern over the amount of money set aside to cover medical negligence claims. Some Government Ministers have argued that it is simply not affordable. But surely the answer is for the Government to work to avoid mistakes, rather than complain about how much is being paid out – especially when many mistakes are due to cost cutting procedures in the first place.

It is likely that this will be the topic of some debate over the coming months, but it appears to be a classic Catch 22 situation.

If you or your family have been affects by a medical mistake, get in touch, we would be more than happy to assist you.

A subset of mesothelioma sufferers may soon be treated with a drug that is presently used to treat Hodgkin’s disease and large-cell Lymphoma.

Scientists have discovered a protein CD30 which is present in certain mesothelioma cell lines and consequently, the drug Adcetris may be used to treat this type of cancer.

Scientists at the Western Reserve University in Cleveland have discovered that Adcetris may slow the growth of mesothelioma cells that contain the protein CD30. The lead researcher and Haematologist Dr Afshin Dowlati has said that the drug is very active against these cells however, it is inactive against the cells that did not express CD30.

Dr Dowlati goes on to say that all patients are not created equal, mesothelioma is not always the same. You can identify subtypes and try to find what works for each one. Different types can be treated in different ways. It is a very old concept in medicine, but in oncology, it has really just come to fruition in the last decade. Instead of the same drug for everyone, cancer treatment has to be personalised.

It is not known why some drugs work for some patients and not others and therefore, more research needs to be done, particularly in this rare type of cancer.

If you are suffering from mesothelioma or know anybody who is, please contact us. We are here to help.