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Objective: To analyse the litigation trends and the reasons for claims within the specialty of Urology, within the UK National Health Service (NHS), over a 16‐year period. Materials and Methods: Data were requested from NHS Resolution under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. This included the total number of claims in Urology, the number of these that were successful (settled or closed), and the costs in damages paid out per financial year between 2006 and 2022. A breakdown of the successful claims by their primary cause was also collected. These were coded into the categories: 'non‐operative', 'intraoperative', 'postoperative', and 'other'. Results: A total of 4124 litigation claims were made between 2006 and 2022 and 60.9% (2511/4124) of these claims were successful. In all, £145 million (British pounds) was paid out in damages. The number of successful claims increased 2.9‐fold from the start to end of this 16‐year period, and the costs in damages paid out increased 10‐fold. Regarding primary causes for the successful claims, failure or delay in treatment (20.9%, 525/2511), failure or delay in diagnosis (14.5%, 364/2511), and intraoperative problems (9.1%, 229/2511) accounted for the highest proportion. Overall, non‐operative causes for successful claims accounted for 73.3% (1840/2511), intraoperative for 20.1% (504/2511), and postoperative for 3.9% (98/2511). Conclusions: The number of successful urological litigation claims, and their associated costs is rising. The majority are due to non‐operative causes, which may be partially explained by NHS waiting lists alongside the effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background and Objective: Surgical specialties account for a significant proportion of malpractice litigation claims and complaints to the regulatory body. The aim of our study was to analyse trends and outcomes for urology malpractice claims and complaints to the General Medical Council (GMC) in the UK over the last two decades., Methods: Data were requested from the GMC and NHS Resolution under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. This included the number of malpractice claims in urology, including damages paid, and annual complaints about urologists to the GMC since 2006. For complaints to the GMC, demographics, case outcomes, and reasons for complaints were also provided., Key Findings and Limitations: Over the study period, there was a 2.9-fold increase in successful (settled or closed) malpractice claims (from 2006-2007 to 2022-2023) and a 1.5-fold increase in complaints to the GMC about urologists (from 2007 to 2024). There were 2511 successful malpractice claims, resulting in a total payout of £145 million. The GMC received 1118 complaints regarding 1045 urologists, of which 26.0% (291/1118) were investigated, 2.4% (27/1118) resulted in a hearing, and 0.5% (6/1118) resulted in the doctor involved being erased from the medical register. Demographic distributions, including gender, ethnicity, and place of medical qualification, for the group involved in complaints differed significantly in comparison to the overall urologist population., Conclusions and Clinical Implications: The numbers of successful urological malpractice claims and complaints to the regulatory body and associated costs have risen. A small proportion of complaints to the GMC led to a medicolegal hearing and subsequent erasure of the doctors involved from the medical register., Patient Summary: We analysed trends and outcomes for malpractice claims and complaints in urology over the last two decades in the UK. The numbers of successful urological malpractice claims and complaints and associated costs have risen, with a small proportion of doctors removed from the medical register., (Copyright © 2024 European Association of Urology. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)