Lawyers seem to making the most out of the National Health Scheme or NHS fulfillment of clinical negligence claims in UK.

 

These lawyers, according to Mark Simmonds, convince patients to file for clinical negligence claims and agree to fight for them on the no win no fee basis. Then, in costs, they take a tidy sum of the compensation. In 20 per cent of the cases they get more money in costs than the patient gets in the claim.
 
For the last five years, NHS has paid £700m on legal fees for clinical negligence claims. While about 6000 people had filed for clinical negligence in 2008, the amount that they recieved on an average was just £15,000, with lawyers getting around £36,000 in legal costs. So, the lawyers individually would get up to 10 times more money than the patient, while a law firm would rake in 60 times the compensation a patient recieved.

 
While the conservatives feel that the problem lies within the manner in which the clinical negligence claims are paid out by the NHS, a Department for Health statement said,"The vast majority of the millions of people treated by the NHS every year experience good quality, safe and effective care. However, if patients do not receive the treatment they should and mistakes are made, it is right that they are compensated and have access to legal representation."