At MDS, we have long championed the need for safer, more proactive healthcare. As specialists in medical negligence, we often see the devastating impact of avoidable harm – not just on patients, but on families, clinicians and the NHS as a whole. That’s why we welcome the NHS 10-Year Plan’s renewed focus on prevention and early intervention.
A shift in focus: treating illness vs preventing harm
The NHS 10-Year Plan first launched in 2019 and further developed in recent updates, places strong emphasis on prevention, early diagnosis and integrated care. The idea is simple: rather than reacting to crises, the NHS should work to stop conditions from developing or worsening in the first place.
Key goals include:
- Earlier cancer detection through screening
- Better management of long-term conditions, like diabetes and asthma
- Investment in maternity and mental health services
- Integrated and joined-up care between services
- Data-led decision-making and risk prediction
The idea is that this preventative model promises better outcomes and limit clinical risk. In theory, these changes should reduce the kind of systemic failings that give rise to negligence claims – particularly in high claim areas like maternity, neonatal and cancer care.
The vision: better care through prevention
Prevention has always been accepted to be the key to avoiding medical negligence claims. Many of the claims we deal with arise from system failures, delays and missed opportunities, including:
- Failure to act on abnormal test results
- Failure to follow up or escalate concerns
- Delayed diagnosis
- Inadequate staffing or supervision
- Lack of follow-up in community or mental health settings
These are not simply one-off errors. They reflect pressured systems and gaps in continuity – exactly what this NHS Plan aims to address.
A culture focused on early intervention, communication and continuity should reduce the risk of harm. It empowers clinicians to act sooner, and it reduces the likelihood of patients “falling through the cracks”.
From a legal perspective, preventable harm often meets the threshold for breach of duty (or negligence) – where care falls below the reasonable standard – and causation, where that failure leads directly to injury. These are the cornerstones of any successful medical negligence claim.
If the NHS successfully implements the 10-Year Plan’s prevention goals, we should see:
- Fewer serious incidents
- Lower rates of high-value claims
- A reduction in avoidable deaths and injuries
- A more sustainable legal and healthcare system
The reality: higher spending does not always equal patient safety
While NHS spending is at an all-time high, it’s important to ask, “where is the money going?” You may hear that compensation claims and associated legal costs are driving up NHS spending. However, that is not a complete picture. Much of the increased NHS budget has been absorbed by, for example, rising demand from an ageing population, staffing shortages and reliance on agency workers, post-Pandemic backlogs, inflation and increased operational costs and crisis responses (as opposed to forward planning).
What needs to happen to see real change?
If the Plan is to reduce negligence claims, 5 key things must happen:
- Proper investment in prevention – not just at the policy level, but in local care pathways, diagnostics and workforce training.
- Cultural change – moving from firefighting to a patient-safety-first mindset, supported by leadership at every level.
- Better communication and data sharing – particularly between hospital, GP and community service.
- Staffing and retention – safe staffing levels and better support for frontline workers reduce risk.
- Accountability and learning from claims – feedback loops from litigation into practice improvement must be embedded.
Without these, rising investment won’t reduce risk, it will just prop-up an already stretched system.
Our view
At MDS we don’t view compensation as a win or a windfall. We know that families would always prefer their loved ones to have received safe, timely care in the first place.
We welcome initiatives that aim to reduce harm and improve patient safety. However, where things do go wrong, we remain committed to investigating failings thoroughly, holding systems to account, securing the resources our clients need to move forwards and highlighting patterns that can drive wider learning and change.
We believe that if implemented meaningfully the NHS 10-Year Plan could reduce claims, particularly in relation to maternity and neonatal claims. However, resolving the NHS’s finances alone won’t solve the problem. What matters is how funding is used, how care is delivered and whether frontline systems are fit for purpose.
Until then, patients will continue to face avoidable harm – and families will continue to need experienced legal support to obtain answers, justice and the care they need to rebuild their lives.
Quote from author. Hannah Carr, Legal Director and Specialist Medical Negligence Solicitor from MDS, said “The NHS 10-Year Plan has the potential to improve patient safety and reduce medical negligence claims – but only if its promises of prevention and integration are matched by real practice change on the ground. What matters is how care is delivered, how risks are managed, and whether patients are truly kept safe at every stage of their journey.”
