Medical negligence claims against GPs have jumped by almost 20 per cent, figures suggest.

The number of claims notified to the Medical Defence Union, which insures more than half of UK GPs, rose a fifth in 2010 compared with the previous year.

Claims across all specialties have risen, according to the union, but the biggest rise has been in general practice.

GPs are most often accused of delayed or wrong diagnosis (60 per cent of claims), followed by failure to refer patients (15 per cent) and medication errors (10 per cent).

The number of high value claims against GPs also rose, with 13 claims assessed at over £1m in 2010.

In 1995, there was just one GP case where the MDU paid compensation of more than £1m.

The MDU said recent claims included £4.5m to a child damaged by meningitis who required full time supervision, £3.5m to a young man with a brain injury following premature delivery and £3.8m to a woman following a brain haemorrhage.

Many claims followed complaints or reports of adverse incidents in previous years.

Only around 30 per cent of all claims result in settlement, rising to about 50 per cent of high value claims, the union said.

Jill Harding, head of claims at the MDU, said: “While we have long been aware of the rising costs of compensation, the increase in the number of claims notified to us is a more recent trend which follows a period of relative stability in this area.

“While we cannot know all the reasons behind an individual patient’s decision to bring a claim after an adverse event, a factor in this increase may be the availability of ‘no win, no fee’ agreements which enable claimants to litigate with no financial risk.

“The current difficult economic times may also be a factor. We see no evidence, however, of any deterioration in standards of care or in the professional relationships between our GP members and their patients.”

She said the rising cost of compensation was due to higher care costs but added it was worth remembering that the value of a claim had “nothing to do with the seriousness of the alleged negligence”.

While high value claims are only a small proportion of the total number of claims, they account for around half of the money the MDU pays out in compensation and legal costs.

The MDU said it could not release the total number of complaints received due to commercial confidentiality.