SpringTime

The purpose of the current article is to present some basic facts about the modern personal injury litigation system in the UK, referring to the most reliable data sources that are available. We have compared three key sources of statistical information about claims in tort. These sources are, first, the data supplied in recent years by the Government’s Compensation Recovery Unit concerning the total number of claims made for personal injury each year; secondly, actuarial analyses based on over a million claims and produced for successive reports commissioned by the Association of British Insurers; and finally, the detailed figures collated in relation to clinical negligence claims made against the National Health Service. A distinguishing feature of all three sources of information is that they are founded upon a very wide statistical base.
An important ulterior goal is to give at least a preliminary evaluation of the contention that both the number and the cost of claims have been driven to record levels. If the figures bear this out, it would lend support to those who consider the UK to be gripped by a compensation culture, and undermine the Government’s view that, although the compensation culture is a myth, the public’s erroneous belief that it exists results in real and costly burdens.
Compensation Recovery Unit statistics say that the number of claims has increased only by three per cent in the last five years. The more detailed figures reveal that not all types of injury have reflected in this small increase. In particular, it is notable that accident claims have actually declined, and it is the substantial rise in claims for disease that accounts for the overall increase.
The Insurers’ Bodily Injury Awards Studies. Throughout the period studied, legal costs, including both claimant and defendant costs, averaged 30 per cent of the total motor personal injury claims. This means that legal costs continued to increase by more than double the rate of the rise of national average earnings.
National Health Service statistics provide that there has been a very great increase in clinical negligence claims in the last 30 or so years. The Pearson Commission reported in 1978 that the number of claims of malpractice against doctors and dentists (including those in private practice) had been running at about 500 a year. By 1990-1991, the estimated number of new medical claims made against the NHS in England had risen to between 5419 and 6979 for the year. The Oxford shire study reported a “steady growth” in new claims in the period 1974-1998. In answers to Parliamentary questions in 2005, the number of claims made from 1996-2004 was broken down, using information supplied by the NHSLA. These figures confirmed the `continuation of the downward trend` in claims numbers that has been evident in recent years. They now are close to the lowest estimate for the year 1990-1991, coming down from a peak in the period 1997-2002.
Cost of claims
A complete picture of the NHS’s annual amount of money spent on clinical negligence compensation in England is available from 1996. This shows a general upwards trend up to and including the year 2004-2005. The figures are startlingly higher than those available for the start of the 1990’s, when the annual cost of clinical negligence compensation was reported to have been £53.2 and £51.3m in 1990-1991 and 1991-1992 respectively. Even these are very much higher than the estimated figure for 1974-75 of £1m. In claims for clinical negligence that were closed by the NHSLA in 2004-2005, defence and claimant costs were equal to, respectively, 13.76 per cent and 19.81 per cent of damages.
Outstanding liabilities for clinical negligence
One of the most frequently misapplied statistics in present compensation culture debate is the annual estimate of the NHS’s outstanding liabilities for clinical negligence (including both known and unknown but expected claims, and taking into account the likelihood of settlement). This has risen from £3.2 billion in 1999 to £5.9 billion in 2003 and £7.8 billion in 2004. The figures refer to liabilities that the NHS claims will arise over a longer period of time, and are very much greater than the sums that are actually paid out on an annual basis. Estimating the cost of outstanding liabilities is an exercise that is fraught with difficulties and the resulting figure representing a “worst case” scenario has been heavily criticised. Although the estimate of outstanding liabilities is frequently cited in the press and media, it must be handled with care. It would be quite wrong, for example, to use it to calculate the percentage of the annual NHS budget that is currently spent on clinical negligence compensation.
These figures give the basis for an initial examination of the claim that a damaging compensation culture has developed in the UK in recent years.
Injuryadvice4u is a UK based company, providing free advice on accident at work claim, falls compensation.

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Days are getting shorter, temperatures dropping and evenings are much cooler. That`s the sign of coming autumn.
But who doesn`t love this beautiful season when it`s still sunny, leaves are changing colours and start to fall? The smell of autumn is in the air. Probably September will bring you such feeling. But what with other months like October or November when it`s closer to winter and weather, so as your comfort, is getting worse and worse? You get sick all the time, almost everyday your shoes are covered with mud, and you are seeking desperately for heat. Try to fight with that!
Autumn is a time to focus on preventing or responding to colds, coughs or sore throats. And for people already predisposed to lung problems, such as pneumonia or emphysema it`s necessary to take precautions to minimize vulnerability as we advance towards winter. To avoid getting sick, keep your neck, wrists, and ankles from being exposed to wind and drafts. This is a likely way for an illness to start.
You should remember that the easiest way of getting cold is walking with your feet wet. In order to protect them from the water it`s worth to wear some waterproof shoes like wellingtons which you can change at work. And if you also have problems keeping your floor clean at home, buy a good door mat which will help preserving your floor from getting dirty.
It`s very important to drink lots of fluids to make sure that your skin doesn`t get dry because of the wind. Remember about good diet, eat vegetables such as carrots, onions, potatoes. Avoid spicy food that could irritate your lungs and make them more vulnerable to pathogens.
To support your immunology system try to keep your body fit. Start running or going to the gym. If you don`t have time for that just take a short walk.
But when you get back home, tired and totally wet because of the rain (that took you out of guard) take a hot bath that will make you warm. If it`s a fragranced bath you will feel relaxed. You will be also pleased to have a nice cup of ginger tea, with honey and lemon, and sit by the fireplace. Doesn`t have such a fireplace? Just light candles and sit on a comfortable floor mat with a person you love. That will surely change a terrible day into a romantic evening.
Do not forget about the entertainment that might cheer you up and during the weekends do anything you like. Sleep as long as you wish, and if the sunny Saturday or Sunday happens take as much as you can from it. Go for a trip to nearby park and delight warm you get.

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It`s obvious that everybody needs water to live. We all use it to drink, wash ourselves, make laundry. Reassuming: water means living. But many years ago people were not aware that water supplies need to be clean. Hygiene was at a very low level. Not before nineteenth century when the epidemics of cholera and typhoid started, people thought about ability of water to transmit diseases. After that scientists have focused on disease-causing microorganisms and the water treatment era started.
Throughout all the years, while human knowledge increased, we still care about our water to be clean, but the problems have changed. Nowadays, we need to deal with the various hard water issues. And what `hard water` is? This phrase is used to describe water with high levels of dissolved minerals, specifically calcium and magnesium. Hard water may bring to you many different problems. The mentioned minerals, during the heating process, form a visible scale in pipes, kettles and dishwashers. As a result, the scale is clogging the pipes and the efficiency of heat that it is needed to make water hot is increasing, therefore it can bring much higher bills. Another problem is that hard water lowers the standard of living. Clothes laundered in hard water usually feel harsh and scratchy. Dishes have spots when got dry. And after washing hair in hard water they might feel sticky.
Are there any tips on how to deal with that? There are few options that you might choose when you care about your water. For example you can change your water detergent for a special one which can be used on any level of water hardness. You might as well use more detergent as it was written on a box, which will give more suds. To remove scale from dishwashers and kettles the rinse agents or a vinegar will be a good solution. But if you want to do something more you have to buy a special appliance. It might be a water softener, that works by replacing the calcium and magnesium in the water with sodium. Although, sodium in a high level isn`t healthy, the appliance have to be refilled with salt, and it is relatively expensive.
An other method is to buy a magnetic conditioner that treats water with a strong magnetic field. As a result, the chemical complexes, that could break down, remains in suspension and don`t form crusts on the surface. But to have benefits from it you have to install not one device but few of them. And it is working only partially in good conditions like ideal flow of water. An alternative to all of this might be such device as Scalewatcher, that works similarly to a magnetic one but sends much stronger signal, remains water treated for a few days, reducing the amount of scale and one unit might be used in whole house.
So think over your situation and choose the best method for yourself.

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