Every year, NHS Resolution publishes data showing how many people have brought medical negligence claims against NHS trusts across England. The most recent figures, from the 2024/25 Annual Report and accounts, paint a clear picture: more people are coming forward after experiencing negligent medical care, and the compensation claimed continues to rise.

The wider report also highlights that 83 per cent of claims were resolved without going to court. This signals a growing willingness from NHS Resolution to work collaboratively with specialist medical negligence solicitors to avoid the stress and expense of court proceedings. This underscores the continued need for those affected by medical negligence to access help from expert solicitors where avoidable harm has occurred.

Here, our clinical negligence team takes a detailed dive into the latest NHS data to reveal what has changed, and what these numbers could mean for those considering a medical negligence claim.

Medical Negligence Claims Figures at a Glance

These figures show a clear shift: more people are taking legal action after experiencing medical negligence, while the number of claims being resolved remains steady.

The Changing Clinical Claims Volumes Over Time

The 2024/25 data shows that new medical negligence claims have risen for the third consecutive year.

After a dip during the pandemic, when elective treatments and routine procedures were paused, the number of claims began climbing again in 2021/22 and has continued to rise each year since. In 2024/25, there were 14,428 new claims, up from 13,784 the previous year.

Meanwhile, the number of claims resolved fell slightly to 13,329, creating a growing gap between new and closed cases. The increase in new cases highlights that more people are taking action to secure fair compensation after experiencing poor medical care.

The Rising Cost of Clinical Negligence

The NHS’s estimated total liability for all ongoing and future clinical negligence claims has risen to £59.99 billion, up from £58.19 billion last year, an increase of 3.1 per cent.

This figure represents the projected future cost of compensation payments, legal fees and care expenses owed to people whose lives have been affected by medical negligence. They are partly driven by those who are living with lifelong disabilities such as catastrophic brain or spinal injuries due to birth errors. However, this steady growth in financial provision also takes into account those who have been affected by negligence across all areas of the health service.

Which Areas of Healthcare See the Most Compensation Claims?

The NHS Resolution statistics show that obstetrics, general surgery and emergency medicine together account for over a quarter of all new clinical negligence claims reported in 2024/25.

The 38.1 per cent of claims that fall under ‘other’ are a broad category covering smaller departments such as anaesthetics, ENT, dermatology, ophthalmology and other clinical areas.

Surgical claims make up the largest single group overall. Often, these claims involve preventable complications such as neurological injuries, delays in surgery, or poor pre- or post-operative management.  

In obstetrics, claim numbers remain consistently high. These cases often involve avoidable harm during pregnancy and childbirth, including brain injuries caused by oxygen deprivation due to delays in delivery or poor management leading up to delivery.

Claims relating to emergency medicine have risen sharply compared with recent years. The data points to a clear increase in incidents involving delayed diagnosis and missed treatment opportunities in urgent care settings, where timely intervention can make all the difference to an outcome.

What Claims Values Reveal

While a small number of cases result in very high compensation awards, most medical negligence claims fall into lower damages bands.

The NHS data shows that the majority of claims are valued between £1,501 and £25,000, covering issues such as short-term injury, unnecessary pain or avoidable surgical complications.

By contrast, claims worth over £1 million make up only a small percentage of all cases, but they account for the largest share of the NHS’s total financial exposure. These high-value cases typically involve serious, life-changing harm, such as brain injury at birth or permanent loss of mobility.

The concentration of claims points to a steady rise in people pursuing accountability for everyday medical errors that once went unchallenged.

What These Statistics Mean for Patients

The figures for 2024/25 confirm what our clients already know: medical negligence remains a widespread issue across the NHS, and the number of people affected continues to rise.

Taken together, the data illustrates persistent areas of clinical risk within the NHS. Surgery, obstetrics and emergency medicine remain the most exposed to negligence claims. These are areas where operational pressures, workforce shortages and pace of care delivery combine to impact patient safety outcomes and, in turn, the volume of claims being brought.

For those affected, bringing a claim is often about recognition, accountability and change as much as it is financial compensation.

At JMW, we help individuals and families hold healthcare providers accountable when treatment falls below an acceptable standard. Our team includes members of the Law Society’s specialist panel of clinical negligence solicitors and the Action against Medical Accidents solicitors panel.

Further reading:

To learn more about how NHS negligence claims work, take a look at our related guides:

• How to Claim Against the NHS: this resource explains the process of bringing a medical negligence claim, from evidence gathering to settlement.
• NHS Compensation Payouts Guide: explores how NHS compensation is calculated, and what influences the final settlement.