Compensation for medical negligence without litigation
NHS REDRESS WALES 2011
The new redress requirements allow NHS bodies to give Welsh patients compensation up to the value of £25,000 where there has been negligence.
Regulation 29 provides for this amount which includes both general and special damages and states that it is a reasonable limit "that would encompass the vast majority of the lower value claims that are currently settled by NHS bodies". The consultation, which took place, before the legislation came into force, believed that this limit would exclude complex fatal accident cases which involved substantial claims for loss of earnings.
In circumstances where it becomes clear that the value of the claim exceeds the £25,000 limit then the redress should not be offered, though a Welsh NHS body does have the authority to make an offer outside of the redress arrangements on some occasions where it is clear that the £25,000 limit will be exceeded.
