Negligence bill totals thousands of pounds

Payouts to patients cost NHS dear

Cash-strapped NHS Tayside has been hit with 136 medical negligence claims in three years, in some cases paying out more than £100,000.

The health board, which was recently bailed out by the Scottish Government, settled 21 of the claims out of court, while 44 proceeded to litigation.

Of those which reached court, 11 were settled, some at an amount more than £100,000.

A spokesperson for NHS Tayside said: “More than 35,000 surgical procedures are performed by NHS Tayside every year and these claims represent a very small number of cases compared to the number of patients we see.

“However, we take every incident extremely seriously and always carry out a thorough investigation and implement any lessons learned. In a small number of cases where appropriate, a compensation payment is made.”

The figures came soon after it was revealed that medical negligence payments had risen to an all-time high in Scotland.

There were 251 payments across the country in 2015/16, up 38 on the previous year and almost double the 132 made in 2010/11.

Tory MSP Bill Bowman said: “We know that incidences of clinical negligence have risen across the country. We cannot simply allow this to be brushed under the carpet – lessons need to be learned where mistakes have been made.

“The statistics also show that many compensation claims that are made do not result in a payout.”

A Scottish Government spokesman said Scotland has one of the most transparent healthcare systems in the world and that NHS “learns constantly from care experiences that go well and those where standards falls short”.

The spokesman added: “Particularly in rare cases of clinical negligence, boards and care professionals must learn from these situations and make improvements.

“The new duty of candour procedure in the Health Act, which comes into force next year, will further improve patient safety and rights.”