Of Interest - October 2007
Lawyers blamed for injury claims delays
Posted on 08 October 2007 at 17:25
Lawyers have come under attack for causing excessive delays to personal injury claims while making record profits from Britain's thriving compensation culture.
New figures show that, for every £1 paid out in insurance compensation for motor accident injuries in the UK, an additional 43p is paid in legal fees. This figure has soared from the 30p paid in 2005.
The study, by the world's second largest insurance market, the International Underwriting Agency, and trade body the Association of British Insurers, analysed 2m UK motor insurance injury claims over the past decade.
The findings of the UK Bodily Injury Awards Survey, to be released today, will show:
• The amount paid out for motor accident injuries is now running at around £2bn a year.
• A total of 2.1m personal injury motor accident claims were made between 1996 and 2006.
• The average cost of a claim was £9,356.
• Over the past ten years, the number of bodily injury claims has risen by 3pc annually, despite the number of road casualties falling by nearly a fifth over the same period.
• The decade up to 2006 saw claims inflation of 6pc a year for cases less than £80,000, and 10pc a year for claims more than £80,000
Stephen Haddrill, director general of the Association of British Insurers, said that underwriters want the payment system speeded up.
He argued that the current compensation system is too slow and inefficient, due partly to the heavy legal work involved, with the average claim taking two years to settle.
"These figures underline the urgent need for reform of personal injury compensation," he said. "Genuine claimants need to get their compensation and have access to rehabilitation more quickly. Key to achieving this is reducing legal costs, which now account for 10pc of every motor premium."
He called on the Government to implement reforms to the industry quickly, "so that the genuine claimant is placed at the heart of a streamlined, cost-effective process".
When the report findings are unveiled today, Mr Haddrill will explain that high legal costs are driving up the cost of motor insurance for all customers, with £40 of the average motor premium now going to the legal profession.
He will also add that compensation is too often paid for exaggerated and frivolous claims, and certain injuries, such as whiplash claims, are more likely to be invented or exaggerated and are posing a problem in the UK.
The new report additionally reveals the average cost of payouts is rising, especially for larger value claims. The total cost of the 50 highest personal injury claims in 1996 was £84.4m compared to £140.8m in 2006.
By Yvette Essen, Insurance Correspondent, Daily Telegraph
NHS trusts 'failing to handle complaints'
Posted on 08 October 2007 at 17:21
Almost a third of complaints about NHS standards are not being handled properly, according to the official health watchdog.The Healthcare Commission claims in a report released today that many hospital managers, doctors and nurses do not listen to complaints or learn from their mistakes.
The way some trusts deal with grievances is fragmented and inconsistent, it says.
In its first audit of how complaints are managed, the watchdog sent warnings to 30 NHS trusts and told 12 of them there had been a "significant lapse" in how they handled patients' concerns.
In the first instance, patients with a grievance must raise it with the healthcare provider involved, such as their GP, NHS trust, dentist or optician.
If they are not satisfied with the response, they can ask the Healthcare Commission to review their case.
The watchdog receives about 8,000 requests each year, and nearly a third of them are sent back to the trust for further action.
The final stage of the complaints procedure is for the Health Service Ombudsman to carry out an independent investigation. There were 1,139 such cases in 2006-07.
In June the Department of Health proposed that local NHS organisations should have greater responsibility for resolving complaints, and that the Healthcare Commission's role in the process be abolished.
But Anna Walker, the commission's chief executive, said the report cast doubt on whether trusts were fit to take on such a role.
She said: "There are serious questions about whether trusts are in a position to ramp up their systems in time to provide the necessary standard of service."
By Nic Fleming, Medical Correspondent , Daily Telegraph
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