GIRFT and NHS Resolution publish litigation claims best practice guide

Article summary

Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) in collaboration with NHS Resolution has produced a new best practice guide which outlines the recommended structure for learning from clinical negligence claims that should be led by trust legal departments, supported by clinicians and managers. The guide, titled ‘Learning from Litigation Claims: The Getting It Right First Time (GIRFT) and NHS Resolution best practice guide for clinicians and managers’, was produced as ‘It is important that trusts recognise the direct link between clinical incidents, claims for compensation and their financial contribution to the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts’. The guide notes that claims learning should have the same parity as learning from clinical incidents, particularly as it was found that some trusts are paying over £40m in yearly contributions with the annual cost representing around 2% of the NHS budget. This finding, GIRFT believes, makes it clear that ‘board-level attention on claims is essential and should be part of the...