New 'humane' system expected next year to allow earlier settlement of medical negligence claims, doctors' conference told

"A pre-action protocol would see the claimant sending a a letter of claim outlining the allegations and the harm suffered. Mr Fagan said it is "intended to remove the adversarial approach to exchanging information". It would "encourage the claimant and respondent to narrow the issues in the dispute at the outset and bring time and cost savings and no trial by ambush.""

"The parties are expected to engage in talks which would whittle down the issues and potentially look at alternative dispute resolution methods like mediation, to try and resolve the case. The conference also heard that periodic payments, which are paid out by courts over several years instead of in a lump sum, will return in weeks after being suspended in recent years. They take account of a person left with a disability due to negligence having additional needs over the years."

"Dr Mahony who was part of a Government appointed expert group - the Interdepartmental Working Group on the Rising Cost of Health-Related Claims - which produced a report on how the better manage medical negligence claims said that pre-action protocols are the "biggie." She said that clinical catastrophic injury claims account for around 57pc of the cost of payouts. Medical negligence cases can leave patients and doctors 'pitted against each"

Pre-action protocols are expected to be implemented in 2026, requiring claimants to send a letter of claim outlining allegations and harm. The protocols aim to remove adversarial information exchange, encourage early narrowing of issues, prevent trial by ambush, and deliver time and cost savings. Parties are expected to engage in talks and consider alternative dispute resolution such as mediation to resolve cases. Periodic payments will return soon, providing multi-year court-ordered payouts instead of lump sums to address long-term needs of disabled claimants. Catastrophic clinical injury claims account for about 57% of payout costs, and cases can pit patients and doctors against each other.

Read at Irish Independent