Taxpayers’ bill for NHS blunders rises by 330%
Critics say lessons are not being learned as medical negligence costs hit £300m
THE cost to the NHS of paying compensation for medical blunders has rocketed.
Scotland’s health boards paid out £37 million in clinical negligence claims last year, a four-fold rise compared to a decade ago.
In the last ten years, NHS chiefs have paid out nearly £300 million to 1,800 patients whose medical treatment has gone wrong.
Miles Briggs, public health spokesman for the Scottish Conservatives, said: ‘There’s nothing wrong with compensating patients who have suffered as a result of clinical negligence. But these figures show the increasing trend over the years, and it’s clear something has to be done to stop this rise.
‘The NHS cannot afford to pay out tens of millions every year for mistakes. Accountability has to be at the centre of these cases, not just signing a cheque.’
The figures, provided by the Scottish Government in response to a parliamentary question from Mr Briggs, show that clinical negligence claims cost the NHS £36.8 million in 2015/16 – an eye-watering 327 per cent increase compared to £8.6 million ten years ago.
With 251 cases receiving payments last year, it means that the average successful claim now costs the NHS an incredible £146,613.
In one case, the NHS was last year ordered to pay £5.2 million to a mother whose son, Sam, suffered brain damage at birth. Nadine Brown fought for 16 years to win justice for the negligence she said caused her child’s disabilities.
The Court of Session in Edinburgh twice rejected Mrs Brown’s case but seven judges at the Supreme Court in London upheld her claim that, given proper medical advice, she would have opted for a Caesarean section and her son would have been born uninjured.
Mrs Brown, 41, said: ‘We wanted to change the law, that was the important outcome, not the compensation. Doctors have the obligation to discuss all the risks and options.’
Mrs Brown said the money helped her fund home adaptations, specialist therapy and equipment for 16-year-old Sam’s education.
It is feared that the soaring number of successful medical negligence claims are a consequence of increasing pressures on NHS staff.
Earlier this year, The Scottish Mail on Sunday revealed that NHS chiefs issued a warning that Scotland’s health service is now in ‘crisis’ and that a shortage of family doctors means the ‘safe delivery’ of medical care is now at ‘significant risk’.
A survey of trainee doctors by the General Medical Council found 38.3 per cent felt the intensity of their workload was heavy or very heavy, while a fifth said working patterns ‘left them feeling short of sleep’.
The new figures show that the cost of negligence claims decreased slightly last year, from £38 million in 2014-15 to £36.8 million.
NHS Lanarkshire paid out more than any other health board, at £9.4 million, followed by £6.6 million at NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde and £6.1 million at NHS Tayside.
Professor Jason Leitch, the Scottish Government’s National Clinical Director, said: ‘The number of cases settling from year to year varies due to some claims taking several years to conclude. The number of compensation payments made in any one year does not reflect the year in which the incident took place.’
DURING its years in opposition, the SNP made much of Labour’s profligacy in government.
Nationalist MSPs relentlessly attacked their opponents for their recklessness when it came to public finances.
But, as is so often the case with the holierthan-thou SNP, the party is guilty of the very sin it condemns.
As we reveal today, the size and cost of the Scottish Government has soared since the SNP came to power in 2007.
The nationalists have packed the corridors of power with highly paid special advisers and spinners and created a bigger, more costly ministerial team than their predecessors ever had.
Is this value for money? Not so far as we can see. Taxpayers are picking up the tab for a huge propaganda machine.