A group of influential MPs warned that the NHS’ medical negligence liability reached a “amazing” £58.2 billion due to ministers’ failure to improve patient safety.

The House of Commons Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said it was "unacceptable" to victims of victim treatment and government inaction to reduce errors.

The PAC revealed that the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) has set aside £58.2 billion to resolve lawsuits arising from clinical negligence in England before April 1, 2024.

The commission said in a nasty report that the payment was so huge that it was the second largest responsibility of the entire government, only the cost of nuclear decommissioning was higher.

"The fact that the government has set aside hundreds of billions of pounds for clinical negligence payments is the second most expensive responsibility after some of the world's most complex nuclear decommissioning projects should pause our entire society," said Sir Geoffrey Clifton-Brown.

"This is a sign of a system that the system works hard to help," he added.

The PAC urges the minister to take urgent measures to reduce “tragic incidents of patient injury” and end 19% of the “astronomy” compensation awarded by lawyers to those who successfully sued the NHS. That figure hits England's £536 million in damages in 2023-24, a record bill that it's wrong.

“Too many patients still suffer from clinical negligence that can cause devastating harm to the affected individuals,” the report said.

DHSC sources accepted the PAC's findings: "The cost of clinical negligence claims is rising at an unsustainable rate, with resources available in the diet for frontline care. Annual cash payments have more than doubled in the past 10 years and more than quadrupled in the past 17 years to £2.8 billion."

The PAC criticized the department for not explaining why patient injuries occur and developed a strategy to overhaul the patient's safety, although the committee asked DHSC in the last parliament that it would do so last summer. The DHSC "had only recently written to us for advice on this."

"The department has not yet developed a plan to deal with the cost of clinical negligence claims, and so much taxpayer money is being spent on legal expenses, which is unacceptable," the report said.

Paul Whiteing, CEO of the Patient Safety Charity Incident Litigation, said NHS employees filed lawsuits amid mistakes in various areas of care. “However, the largest amount is granted to infant families with lifelong disabilities (such as brain damage, negligence at birth).

In recent years, the NHS has faced a series of maternal care scandals that have killed or seriously injured mothers and infants. The Nursing Quality Committee of the Health Services Nursing Regulatory Authority said in 2023 that two-thirds of maternal units provide unqualified care.

The white man added that the NHS would face fewer lawsuits if errors occur.

He said: "We're seeing a lot of people just litigating because of the NHS 'removing the blinds', and I mean, I mean, what's wrong is not properly researching what's wrong, providing meaningful apology for their mistakes and getting family involved in the investigation.

Jess Brown-Fuller, a health spokesman for the Liberal Democratic Party, said the huge cost of NHS medical negligence spending is "a symptom of health services."

In an analysis of DHSC’s annual report and accounts, the PAC sets up a new high containment laboratory in Harlow, Essex to help protect the UK from infectious diseases and starts with £530 million, “the tempting projection is expected to be £32.2 billion”.

It criticized the government for not articulating its decision to abolish the NHS in England and the decisions of thousands of health service managers on patients and staff. It expresses concern about cutting dentistry, GP services and preventive health.

NHS Federation CEO Matthew Taylor responded to PAC's upset. “While many leaders understand the need for change, there is a lack of details on how to improve to the country, the pace of this restructuring and how it is linked to the ambitions of the 10-year plan, which is the reason for the focus among employees,” he said.

A DHSC spokesman said: "Patient safety is the basis of healthy NHS and social care systems. The government will ensure that the country has the best systems to ensure safe through overhaul of the over-complex bureaucracy of health care regulation and supervision. We will examine the drivers of cost, how to manage the clinical scope of the clinical, the rate of clinical substantive rate and the effect of reform.