The Impact of Risk Standards on Clinical Negligence Claims in the NHS

Recent years have seen a global trend towards the pursuit of healthcare quality as countries attempt to maximise the usage of resources amidst concerns about increasing costs, competing priorities and patient safety. This study investigates the effects of this trend by examining the impact of risk management processes on the clinical negligence claims of acute NHS trusts ¿ where risk management processes are proposed to be dependent on the governance structure and financial health of a trust i.e. it relates to how risk management is supported by good governance and the availability of finance.Overall, this study offers strong support for the proposition that more efficient risk management processes should lead to improved clinical negligence outcomes for NHS trusts, and provides recommendations to assist trusts to improve their own risk processes. Specifically, the system of risk management standards, which is costly for the NHSLA to administer, is shown to deliver benefits in the form of reduced numbers of new claims.