The recent consultation on the possible content of a Patients' Rights Bill - http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2008/09/22091148/0 - indicated that no-fault compensation was the Scottish Government's favoured way forward for the NHS in Scotland. The Consultation paper also acknowledged the need for further work on the practical implications and potential costs of any such change in compensation arrangements and made it clear that the Scottish Government would explore the potential benefits for patients in Scotland of a no-fault compensation scheme before taking any firm decision on future arrangements.
Nicola Sturgeon, Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Health and Wellbeing, announced on 1 June that a short-life working group would be established to progress this work. The group, being chaired by Sheila McLean, Director of the Institute of Law and Ethics in Medicine at Glasgow University, met for the first time on 14 August 2009.
The group will consider the potential benefits for patients and whether such a scheme could be introduced alongside the existing clinical negligence arrangements. The review will include examination of the cost implications; the consequences for healthcare staff; and the quality and safety of care. It is also important that it takes account of the wider implications for the system of justice and personal injury liability and looks at the evidence on how no-fault compensation has operated in other countries.
The Group has been asked to give full, frank and objective consideration to no-fault compensation and to submit their report in October 2010, with recommendations and advice on the key principles and design criteria that could be adopted for a no-fault compensation scheme.