OP BLUNDERS WASTE £2 BN OF NHS CASH

Legal bills on the rise

THE NHS is blowing a shocking £2.2billion a year paying for its own medical mistakes.

The bill for negligence claims has doubled from £1.1bn in 2013 as more cash is diverted away from frontline services.

The massive figure is enough to cover the salaries of 100,000 nurses. It means £1 in every £50 of NHS cash is being paid to patients or to cover the cost of lawyers’ legal fees. A NHS Resolution spokesman said: “Despite a plateauing in the numbers of clinical negligence claims, the cost of claims continues to rise.”

NHS claims in England soared from £1.7bn in 2016/17 to £2.2bn in

2017/18 and damages made up for

£1.1bn and £1.6bn respectively. Payments made to patients’ lawyers also went up from £418million in 2015/16 to £498m the following year.

Negligence specialists Irwin Mitchell were given £32.4m in

2016/17, while Slater And Gordon were paid £15.9m and Leigh Day got £10.9m.

Steve Webber, chairman of the Society of Clinical Injury Lawyers, said the £31m fall in claimants’ fees last year showed Government reforms had helped.

But concerns have been raised at efforts to curb costs as the move has stalled three years after ministers unveiled the “fixed costs” plan in cases where damages were under £100,000.

A Health Department spokesman said work on fixed costs is “ongoing”. The Star Says: Page 6