Commenting on the Government’s plans to reform the way the personal injury discount rate is set, Simon Kayll, CEO of the Medical Protection Society, said:

“The Government’s decision to change the personal injury discount rate significantly increased the cost of settling future loss claims against GPs, at a time when the cost of clinical negligence is already worryingly high.  The framework which determines the rate itself also failed to consider the impact on the NHS, the public purse and the affordability of professional protection for healthcare professionals.

“It is vital that Government gets this right if we are to avoid further sudden shocks to the cost of compensation, and the proposed new framework is welcome step which could result in a more common sense approach with the reality of how claimants invest compensation payments at its core. It is however dependent on implementation - the new framework will only apply if and when the proposed law is enacted and it will not apply retrospectively.

“We look forward to seeing swift progress on this - and commitment to whole system legal reform to tackle the underlying issue of rising clinical negligence costs.”

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Notes to editors

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