An increase in the number of compensation claims made against the NHS is being blamed on ‘The Holby Effect’. The annual conference of the Royal College of Nurses has heard how TV programmes such as ‘Holby City’ are fuelling the compensation culture in the NHS by painting an unrealistic picture of what to expect from medical staff.

Figures released by the NHS show that for the year 2008 – 2009 there were 6,080 claims made for clinical negligence and 3,743 made for non-clinical negligence. These claims came at a cost of 807 million pounds in compensation payouts to claimants. By comparison, in the year 2007 – 2008, the number of claims made was about 10% less, with payouts totalling 661 million pounds.

John Hill from Scunthorpe told the conference that the public’s expectations of healthcare professionals are too high and this is partly due to TV medical dramas. He said, “In A&E it is sometimes a fact that sadly you cannot get people through the trauma they have received. Unfortunately, unlike Holby City, I’m a mere mortal, I cannot perform miracles but many relatives believe because of that that you can. And injury lawyers assure them that if you don’t they will be able to get some recompense for it.”
The Holby Effect

The ‘Holby Effect’ could also be having further repercussions within the NHS. As medical professionals are becoming more concerned over the possibility of a claim being made against them, they are spending more and more time on paperwork and administrative tasks and consequently less time is spent dealing directly with patients. Marcia Turnham, a delegate from Cambridgeshire, told the RCN conference in Bournemouth that nurses had to spend “more time recording care than giving care”, and the compensation culture meant staff felt as though they were “under the microscope”. She said, “From a nursing point of view, I think one of the main concerns is that there’s too much documentation associated with the care we have to give.

A big part of that is those documents associated with indemnity insurance for the trust. Every time a patient is admitted it can take a nurse 40 minutes to fill in the paperwork. That’s time that a nurse could be spending with the patient.” Another factor was also raised as Marcia said the rise of the Internet had led more patients and relatives to seek information about their conditions. This had further raised expectations and pointed to the growth in the number of lawyers seeking compensation for NHS patients.

The underlying feeling seems to be that medical healthcare professionals feel that patients and relatives are too quick to turn to litigation when their expectations of the health service are not met. In turn, this can only serve to make things more difficult for those with genuine clinical negligence grievances. As the number of claims escalate, healthcare lawyers will be forced to scrutinise each claim made and, if they feel it is appropriate, challenge them. In addition, the time that is spent on paperwork could also lead to further claims as medical staff become preoccupied with preventing litigation, rather than with treating the matter in hand.