Patients seeking compensation as a result of clinical negligence in the NHS should receive a decision on their case within six months, according to the NHS litigation authority chief.

Steve Walker, chief executive of the body responsible for handling negligence claims against NHS organisations, said the proposed new target was "achievable", despite an expected surge in the number of people lodging claims once a new NHS redress scheme is in place.

A bill is due to be laid in parliament to enact the scheme, which will seek to curb the rising cost of clinical negligence cases by keeping them out of court and cutting the vast legal bills and long delays in settling claims. The new system will establish a no-fault compensation scheme for brain damaged babies, which account for only 5% of cases but 60% of costs.

Details of the bill, such as a fixed-fee structure for solicitors representing patients to discourage "vulture culture" law firms, and the target-time for resolving claims, are yet to be finalised.

The average time currently taken to deal with a clinical negligence claim under the existing system, Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts, takes 1.44 years. This is up from 1.36 years in 2003-04.

But Mr Walker expressed confidence that a target of six months could comfortably be set to bring claims to a satisfactory solution.

His comments came despite an anticipated surge in claims once the new scheme is in place.

The target envisaged by Mr Walker follows a pilot carried out two years ago, in which 90% of cases were resolved within this time frame.

"The pilot worked in six months, and we will be disappointed if we do not meet six months this time around," he told SocietyGuardian.co.uk.

"I do think it will be achievable," Mr Walker added. "If the numbers are overwhelming we will just need more people to deal with it."

The new redress system aims to remove expensive, "no win no fee" deals by transferring any legal cost incurred by claimants seeking an out-of-court settlement onto the litigation authority.

Mr Walker said it was impossible to forecast the cost of the new scheme at this point.

The cost to the NHS of handling clinical negligence cases is on the increase, despite a drop in the number of claims.

Mr Walker admitted that the scheme, which aims to curb expenditure, could end up costing more.

"No one will get anything unless they have a legal entitlement to it, so we are taking the risk of it costing more against the benefit ... for patients."

In 2004-05, 5,609 claims of clinical negligence and 3,766 claims of non-clinical negligence against NHS bodies were lodged, compared with 6,251 claims of clinical negligence and 3,819 claims of non-clinical negligence in 2003-04.

Yet the NHS bill soared by £80m to £502.9m for the 2004-05 period.

This figure includes both damages paid to patients and the legal costs borne by the NHS. In 2003-04, the comparable figure was £422.5m.