Informed consent failures: National Health Service Resolution data (12 May 2023)

Summary

Data from NHS Resolution indicates that the number of claims with a primary cause of ‘Fail to warn - Informed consent’ have increased from 128 to 248 claims per year in 2011–2012 and 2021–2022 respectively. This letter in the British Journal of Surgery highlights the impact of failures in both the process and documentation of informed consent. The writers call for further research to investigate unwarranted variation in claims and develop processes to standardise and improve the quality of consent.