14 October 2024

Toni Hall, a solicitor in the Clinical Negligence Department looks at the new Clinical Negligence Claims Agreement.

On 27^th August 2024 NHS Resolution announced the new Clinical Negligence Claims Agreement 2024 (CNCA), which replaced the extremely successful COVID-19 Clinical Negligence Protocol, which came into place in 2020 in the height of the COVID-19 Pandemic.

One of the main purposes of the COVID Protocol had been to essentially suspend limitation (the period of time in which a claim must be brought) to allow parties time to investigate clinical negligence claims without the worry of meeting the limitation deadline.

The CNCA seeks to expand on the initial protocol and further improve the overall claims management process within clinical negligence.

The CNCA applies to any defendant indemnified by a defendant organisation who is a signature to the agreement, and any claimant represented by a firm of solicitors who is a member of AvMA or SCIL. Its purpose is to promote collaboration between parties alongside positive behaviour with an aim of resolving claims as efficiently as possible. The agreement will be reviewed every 26 weeks, and any signatory has to give the other side 4 weeks’ notice of their intention to terminate the agreement.

Key aims of the new agreement include:

1. Extending limitation periods in certain cases to provide flexibility including provisions for extending limitation following inquests
2. Encouraging early disclosure of relevant documents to help narrow the issues, reduce costs and avoid litigation where possible.
3. Better and more efficient communication via electronic means
4. Encouragement of pre-action dispute resolution (also to avoid unnecessary litigation)
5. Defendants are to adopt a reasonable approach to requests for interim payments
6. Encourage apologies, reflection and identifying where lessons have been learnt.

Simon Hammon, Director of Claims Management at NHS Resolution said: “The fact that parties have been able to agree a successor agreement reflects the cultural change we have witnessed in how clinical claims are managed. It is extremely pleasing to see the continued desire to work together to remove friction from the claims management process.”

It is considered that a more collaborative approach should assist in the overall handling of claims and improve the way parties work in dealing with these claims.