Doctors facing more complaints and claims turn to MDU for support
Doctors are facing a harsh medico-legal climate in which they are increasingly subject to criticism, according to the Medical Defence Union (MDU). In its Annual Report for 2012, which is published today, the MDU reveals it has seen a 15% increase in medical claims files.
As well as receiving 32,000 calls from members to its advice line, the MDU also opened 6.5% more medical files to help doctors with matters such as GMC complaints, disciplinary proceedings and NHS complaints. The increase in cases was partly driven by a 15.5% increase in requests by MDU members for advice with NHS complaints and also a reflection of the 18% rise in GMC complaints nationally.
The MDU has employed additional staff across its advisory, legal and claims departments to help its members with the increasingly hostile climate.
Dr Christine Tomkins, MDU chief executive, said:
"There are no indications that the current medico-legal position, where doctors are subject to rising complaints and claims in a highly regulated environment, will ease, even though, looking at GMC fitness to practise findings, it is clear there is no evidence that clinical standards are slipping. It is difficult to identify what lies behind the increase in complaints but the reasons are likely to be economic and societal.
"Looking at negligence claims, legal changes which may result in a reduction in the fees claimant's lawyers can charge came into effect on 1st April 2013. Before that deadline we saw a steep rise in medical claims being notified. This is attributable to claimant's lawyers getting claims in under the previous conditional fee arrangements, which were more favourable for them. Such cases accounted for 48% of medical claims we received in 2012 compared to 5% of cases in 2004.
"We hope these legal reforms will achieve the aim of reducing claimant's costs while still providing patients with access to justice if they believe they are negligently harmed."
"Members who put their trust in us can be reassured of our proven record of success - we successfully defend 70% of medical claims where the doctor is accused of negligence and faces a demand for compensation. Over 90% of members facing GMC complaints when represented by an in-house solicitor do not reach a fitness to practise hearing."
The MDU's annual report includes a number of examples of cases in which the MDU has helped members including:
• A retired GP who received a claim more than 40 years after seeing a woman on a GP-led maternity unit where he worked in the 1960s. The claim, which alleged that the GP should have referred the woman more quickly to a specialist unit for a caesarean, to avoid the baby being born with brain damage, was successfully defended.
• An anaesthetist who received a claim after a patient had a brief episode of awareness during a hernia operation and suffered flashbacks as a result. The claim was settled.
• An experienced GP who gave an elderly woman, suffering from diarrhoea and vomiting, telephone advice out of hours. The patient was later admitted to hospital and died from a campylobacter infection. The GP was working under severe time pressure because of a significant norovirus outbreak which meant he didn't gain sufficient information about the patient's medical history of diabetes, polymyalgia rheumatic and myocardial infarction. The claim was settled.
