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State Claims Agency

Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 21 January 2021

Thursday, 21 January 2021

Ceisteanna (374, 375)

Catherine Murphy

Ceist:

374. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Health the amount paid out by the State Claims Agency in damages in medical negligence cases in 2020; the top five amounts paid out; and the nature of such cases. [3162/21]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Catherine Murphy

Ceist:

375. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Health the amount paid out by the State Claims Agency in plaintiff legal costs and its own legal costs in medical negligence cases for 2020. [3163/21]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

I propose to take Questions Nos. 374 and 375 together.

The State Claims Agency (SCA) has a statutory remit to manage personal injury claims on behalf of Delegated State Authorities including the Health Service Executive. The State Claims Agency has provided me with the following information, in respect of the Deputy's questions relating to the amounts paid by the Agency in 2020.

The first report below shows Damages Payments made in 2020 with respect to clinical claims under the management of the State Claims Agency. The figures relate to all claims under the hazard category of clinical care only being managed by the SCA under the Clinical Indemnity Scheme (CIS) and other private healthcare schemes. The Report is correct as at 31/12/2020.

Total Damages Payment Made - 2020

Damages payments with respect to clinical care claims paid in 2020 by the State Claims Agency on behalf of all delegate healthcare enterprises amounted to €245,066,025

Top 5 Damages Payments – 2020

All of the below damages payments relate to Cerebral Palsy claims with the exception of the final claim below relating to a catastrophic non-brain injury. The amounts shown represent full and final settlements in the 5 cases.

Injury

Damages Paid - 2020

Cerebral Palsy

€22,616,271

Cerebral Palsy

€18,400,000

Cerebral Palsy

€14,800,000

Cerebral Palsy

€12,000,000

Catastrophic Non-Brain Injury

€9,400,000

Table 1: Top 5 Damages Payments made 2020 - Clinical Claims

The second report shows all Plaintiff legal costs and Agency costs only paid by the Agency from 01/01/2020 to 31/12/2020.

The total plaintiff legal costs and agency legal costs paid on clinical care claims in 2020.

Transaction Type

Total

Agency Legal Costs

€22,674,725

Plaintiff Legal Costs

€47,053,749

Grand Total

€69,728,473*

Table 2: Amount paid in plaintiff legal costs and agency legal costs on clinical claims in 2020

Note: The legal costs sums include VAT, and, in the case of plaintiffs’ costs, the sum shown also includes payments made in respect of experts retained by plaintiffs to support their cases.*Grand Total does not add due to rounding.

Definitions:

National Incident Management System (NIMS): Incidents (which include claims) are reported using the “National Incident Management System”. This is hosted by the State Claims Agency (SCA) for the HSE, other Healthcare enterprises and State Authorities. An incident can be a harmful Incident (Adverse Event), no harm incident, near miss, dangerous occurrence (reportable circumstance) or complaint.

An Incident can relate to a person, property, crash/collision, dangerous occurrence or complaint.

Damages Payments: Can includes both General Damages and Special Damages

Claim: A claim refers to notification of intention to seek compensation for personal injury and/or property damage where it is alleged the State was negligent. The application may be in the form of a letter of claim, an InjuriesBoard.ie application, or a written/oral request.

Clinical: A clinical incident on NIMS is one which falls under the Incident Hazard category of Clinical Care. This category includes incidents relating to the provision of services of a diagnostic or palliative nature. It also includes incidents relating to the provision of treatment. Incidents present in this category will be relating to clinical procedures, birth specific procedures, medication incidents, or nutrition/blood related incidents.

General: A general incident on NIMS is one which falls outside of the Clinical Care Incident hazard category. This includes all incidents relating to Exposure to Physical Hazards, Exposure to Psychological Hazards, Exposure to Chemical Hazards, Exposure to Biological Hazards, Crashes/Collisions, Property Damage/Loss (non-crash collision), dangerous occurrences and informal complaints.

Transaction Reporting Date: This refers to the date that payments were issued.

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