DDU Press For Reforms To Legal Fees In Negligence Claims

DDU Press For Reforms To Legal Fees In Negligence Claims

The indemnifier, Dental Defence Union (DDU) has revealed that legal costs in dental negligence claims can be double the amount of compensation paid to patients. In cases with a settlement under £10,000 it is likely that costs will exceed the actual settlement. 

These alarming figures appear in the MDU annual report for 2021

The report published by the DDU’s parent company, reveals that the average sum paid in claimants’ legal costs on dental claims settled for between £10,000 and £25,000, was over £22,500. For claims settled up to £10,000 the average was £13,000.

Calling on the government to proceed quickly with the proposed reforms to the clinical negligence system, Dr Matthew Lee, MDU chief executive, said:

“Disproportionate legal costs are one of several defects in the current litigation system and particularly affect lower value claims. It cannot be right for legal costs paid to claimants’ lawyers to regularly exceed the damages paid to claimants.”

“The Government recently closed a consultation on introducing fixed, proportionate, legal costs for cases valued up to £25,000. While we believe that the scheme should apply to claims up to £250,000 to have a real impact, the government has promised a more ambitious consultation this year on wider reforms. This cannot come soon enough when you consider the NHS is also facing such disproportionate costs which put a strain on public finances.”

The DDU’s Fair Compensation campaign seeks to draw attention to the problem of ever increasing claims and costs. There are serious concerns about the ability to sustain ever increasing claims. The most recent available figures show the claims inflation running at 8% per annum, at the time significantly higher than the general inflation rate. The NHS’s liabilities from outstanding claims were estimated at £83 billion in 2021. This represents an estimated cost of £3600 per tax payer.

Echoing a criticism made by many dentists, the MDU question the current system where compensation is calculated based upon the cost of private rather than NHS care.

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