Recommendation F94: Evidence-based assessment
From Report of the Mid Staffordshire NHS Foundation Trust Public Inquiry, published 6 February 2013.
Recommendation
As some form of running record of the evidence reviewed must be retained on each claim in order for these reports to be produced, the NHS Litigation Authority should consider development of a relatively simple database containing the same information.
In brief (written by this site)
The Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England stated in February 2026 that the recommendation was implemented and closed, reporting that a best practice guide had been published in 2021 to help trusts learn from negligence claims (DHSC and NHS England, Feb 2026). Previously, the Thirlwall Inquiry legal team found in May 2024 that the recommendation was implemented, noting the extranet service launched by the NHS Litigation Authority during 2013 and 2014 to provide trusts with real-time claims data and learning resources (The Thirlwall Inquiry legal team, May 2024).
AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 26 Sep 2026. The record below is the sources' own words.
Government response
Accepted.
The NHS Litigation Authority has launched a new extranet which provides members with detailed information about their claims so they can easily identify areas where they need to focus on reducing claims. The information is real time and shows total volumes and values but also broken down by speciality. Members can use the information to benchmark themselves against similar organisations.
The extranet also provides materials to support learning.
How this response relates to the recommendation
Site note: This is volume two of "Hard Truths: The Journey to Putting Patients First" (Cm 8777-II), the government's response to the Inquiry's 290 recommendations, published by the Department of Health on GOV.UK on 19 November 2013 and dated to that day here. The PDF the row links to is the accessible edition, whose title page reads "January 2014". The Department of Health has been the Department of Health and Social Care since January 2018. The volume says it includes accounts from each of the national organisations the recommendations name, but it does not mark which passage each organisation wrote, so every row is filed under the Department that published it.
Blanket government agreement does not establish acceptance or delivery by each addressee. Some response passages cover groups of recommendations.
Scope of the government response
Government responded via "Hard Truths: The Journey to Putting Patients First" (2014), a single document covering all 290 recommendations with a blanket acceptance. Individual recommendation responses were not broken out.
Delivery
DHSC and NHS England say completed (27 February 2026)
The Thirlwall Inquiry has noted action taken in response to this recommendation following the conclusion of the Inquiry.
A best practice guide was published in 2021 to help trusts learn more from NHS negligence claims to drive better patient safety.
Site note: DHSC and NHS England's own account of progress, supplied to the Thirlwall Inquiry in September 2024 and printed in the Inquiry legal team's Review of Implementation of Recommendations from Previous Inquiries into Healthcare Issues (version dated April 2025, published 27 February 2026). It is not a finding of the Inquiry. Their reviewed extent of implementation reads “Implemented – Closed”. Table row: section 18.2 No. 94, PDF page 470.
Department of Health and Social Care says in progress (11 February 2015)
The NHS Litigation Authority launched its extranet service for members during 2013-14. They share more data with members to help them reduce claims and improve patient and staff safety. The extranet now provides members with real-time access to their claims data together with learning resources. It enables them to log new claims, track the progress of ongoing claims, and assess and manage their risk. It also provides learning materials such as case studies to enable shared learning across the NHS. The data can help the NHS to prevent harm to patients and staff which might otherwise lead to future claims against the NHS.
Site note: This is the supporting annex published on 11 February 2015 with "Culture change in the NHS: applying the lessons of the Francis Inquiries" (Cm 9009), attached to the GOV.UK page as "Culture change in the NHS supporting annex". The annex has no title page; that title is GOV.UK's and the PDF's own. Its table has four columns (No., Recommendation, Hard Truths Government response, Progress update), and the row carries the Progress update cell. No column says which organisation wrote an update, so the row is filed under the Department of Health (now the Department of Health and Social Care), which published it.
Site note: The Inquiry addressed this recommendation to the NHS Litigation Authority (now NHS Resolution), not to the Department of Health. The annex gives this update in the Department's publication and does not say who wrote it, so the row is the Department's report of the progress made on it.
What other bodies have found
In their own words. These do not change the delivery statement above.
Thirlwall Inquiry legal team (15 May 2024)
This recommendation was accepted by the Government.
In the February 2015 Culture Change report, the Government said that the NHS Litigation Authority launched its extranet service for members in 2013-14, sharing data to help them reduce claims and improve patient and staff safety. The Government said the extranet provided members with real0time access to claims data together with learning resources.
Site note: The Thirlwall Inquiry legal team's own notes on implementation, from its Review of Implementation of Recommendations from Previous Inquiries into Healthcare Issues (version of 15 May 2024). The review colours its Extent of Implementation cell for this recommendation green, which it uses to mark evidence, identified by the legal team, that a recommendation has been clearly implemented. Table row: section 16.2 No. 94, PDF page 435.
Source
Themes and tags
Who has spoken
- Department of Health and Social Care
Response, delivery statement - DHSC and NHS England
Delivery statement - Thirlwall Inquiry legal team
Finding