The National Health Service Litigation Authority (NHSLA) has left its line-up of clinical negligence advisers largely untouched following the influential body's closely-watched panel review.

The organisation has retained 11 of its 12 existing advisers following the review, with south of England practice Brachers the only firm to miss out.

The panel, which will handle all clinical negligence claims against the NHS, retains Barlow Lyde & Gilbert, Beachcroft, Bevan Brittan, Browne Jacobson, Capsticks, Eversheds, Hempsons, Hill Dickinson, Kennedys, Ward Hadaway and Weightmans.

The appointments will take effect from 1 April and carry a term of three years. They were announced earlier this week (10 March) after a review kicked off in October by NHSLA chief executive Steve Walker.

Walker told Legal Week: "We had quite a lot of new applicants tendering for a position on the panel and some of them got quite far down the process."

"In terms of Brachers, they simply were not successful – it is no criticism on them. They were on the shortlist but they did not make it in the end. It was a very labour-intensive and long process and I think we got the right results in the end."

The NHSLA is a key client for panel firms, despite its reputation for trying to drive down prices. When the last panel review was completed in 2005, firms were thought to have secured a small increase in their rates from £150 an hour for London-based partners to £175. It is understood that hourly rates have been negotiated up once again.

Ward Hadaway's head of healthcare, Jeffrey Keeble, said: "We are delighted to be reappointed. We have a group of 12 people up here in Newcastle working for the client. We did not really know what to expect. The NHSLA seems to have been happy with the work the firms have been doing."

The body is now to begin a tender process for its nine-firm panel handling non-clinical claims, with the results of that review set to be announced next year.