Health Services Data

Tuesday, 16 May 2017

Questions (474)

Declan Breathnach

Question:

474. Deputy Declan Breathnach asked the Minister for Health the amount of expenditure on litigation claims against his Department and the HSE in each of the years 2011 to 2016, inclusive, and to date in 2017; the number of claims awarded in court and settled out of court; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [23218/17]

View answer

Written answers

Minister for Health

The management of claims against the Health Service Executive and my Department is delegated under the National Treasury Management Agency Act to the State Claims Agency (SCA), which has a statutory mandate to investigate and manage these cases to completion. The Annual Report of the National Treasury Management Agency notes that the SCA resolves the majority of claims by negotiating a settlement, either directly with the plaintiff's legal advisors or through a process of mediation. In 2015 97% of clinical negligence cases which were handled by the SCA were settled without the necessity for a contested court hearing.

The SCA has supplied a report on the information requested by the Deputy. The data is extracted from the National Incident Management System (NIMS), a system which it hosts for the Health Service Executive, other healthcare enterprises and Delegated State Authorities.

The following tables show details on claims finalised for the Health Service Executive and the Department of Health from 1 January 2011 to 11 May 2017 under the following case outcomes: Settlement Agreed, Case Discontinued/Claim Statute Barred, Indemnity Received, Outside the SCA remit, Case Dismissed and Court Award. A claim in this context refers to a notification of intention to seek compensation for personal injury and/or property damage where it is alleged that the State was negligent. The application may be in the form of a letter of claim, an InjuriesBoard.ie application or a written or oral request. A finalised claim refers to when a claim and all other matters associated with it have been agreed, e.g. costs. There may still be some associated payments and reimbursements outstanding on finalised claims.

Table 1 Number of Claims by Claims Finalised Year (2011 - 2017)

Number of Claims

	2011	2012	2013*	2014	2015	2016	2017 to 11/5/17	Total
Settlement agreed	343	376	461	540	566	658	292	3236
Case Discontinued/Claim Statute Barred	148	169	189	255	362	362	197	1682
Indemnity Received	54	58	58	149	105	269	24	717
Outside SCA Remit	22	15	13	25	30	19	14	138
Case Dismissed	4	6	5	8	11	9	2	45
Court Award	2	4	6	8	8	17	3	48
Grand Total	573	628	732	985	1082	1334	532	5866

*Please note that in 2013 there was one case that was 'Settlement Agreed' after a Court award appeal

Table 2 Paid Total by Claims Finalised Year (2011 - 2017)

Paid Total (€’000)

YEAR	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017 to 11/5/17	Total
Settlement agreed	56,370	56,769	61,478	77,282	77,380	91,293	47,074	467,646
Case Discontinued/Claim Statute Barred	753	903	878	606	2,300	701	2,135	8,276
Indemnity Received	606	491	310	563	389	162	436	2,957
Outside SCA Remit	0	11	0	0	5	2	0	18
Case Dismissed	283	255	571	359	297	1,565	38	3,368
Court Award	808	3,519	2,567	2,934	1,472	2,645	7,143	21,088
Grand Total	58,820	61,948	65,804	81,744	81,843	96,368	56,826	503,353

Definitions for the terms used in the tables:

(i) 'Settlement Agreed', - i.e. a negotiated settlement has been agreed with the Plaintiff for damages or an Injuries Board award accepted. This category includes some claims that go to court and are either settled on the steps of the court or are settled during the court case but before the case concludes;

(ii) 'Case Discontinued'/Claim Statute Barred', i.e. The claim against the State Authority was discontinued and/or withdrawn by the Plaintiff, or the Statute of Limitations rendered the claim Statute Barred and prevented the claim from proceeding;

(iii) 'Indemnity Received' i.e. The SCA obtained a full indemnity, in respect of the claim, on behalf of the relevant State Authority from the Insurers of a negligent Third Party motorist;

(iv) 'Outside State Claims Agency Remit' i.e. These claims were not managed by the SCA;

(v) 'Case Dismissed': A judge has dismissed a Plaintiff's claim at the conclusion of the trial;

(vi) 'Court Award': A judge has made an award of damages to the Plaintiff at the conclusion of the trial.

It should also be noted that the figures in respect of paid totals relate to the amount of money paid on a claim over its lifetime. This may include payments made in previous years. It includes damages, legal costs and other expert costs. The data includes all Health Service Executive locations (including voluntary) and excludes Tusla.