We operated on the wrong patient, says NHS board
A SCANDAL-HIT health board has paid out almost £19million in compensation claims for cases of medical negligence. NHS Tayside made the payments over the past four years for mistakes – including operating on the wrong patient.
The revelation is the latest crisis to hit the health board, which lost its management team after it emerged charity donations had been spent on general running costs.
As well as that financial scandal, it also emerged this week that breast cancer patients in Tayside were given lower doses of chemotherapy than women in the rest of Scotland.
The health board ran up a £45million debt and has repeatedly required bailouts from the Scottish Government.
It received 159 claims for clinical negligence between 2015-16 and 2018-19. So far, at least 37 of these have been settled, with the total bill for compensation and associated legal expenses coming in at £18.99million.
Claims have been lodged against the health board for a range of medical mistakes.
The data, released in a Freedom of Information inquiry, reveals the most common claims but not the amount paid in compensation for individual cases.
However, it shows that more than five claims were made against the health board where there was a failure to recognise a complication in treatment and also where there had been a failure to diagnose an issue, or a delay in diagnosis. There were also more than five claims made where doctors failed to carry out routine investigations and more than five claims for problems during operations.
The health board was also hit with claims of clinical negligence lodged for surgical items being left in patients and for incidents where there was a failure to obtain informed consent.
Claims were also made because an incorrect diagnosis had been made and where surgeons had operated ‘on the wrong patient/body part’.
Other claims were for medication errors and from patients who fell from a bed or trolley.
North East Scotland Tory MSP Bill Bowman: ‘Each of these claims have someone suffering behind them. Judging by the amounts in these figures, some catastrophic instances of negligence have taken place.
‘The payouts are concerning but more important is the effect on lives. The board need to get a grip of this situation before it gets any worse.’
A spokesman for NHS Tayside said the compensation claims paid out by the board were refunded by a scheme operated by the NHS in Scotland.
She added: ‘These claims represent a very small number of cases compared to the number of patients we see.
‘The figures reported will contain a wide range of settlements. However, we take every concern raised by patients seriously.
‘Each case is investigated thoroughly and in a small number of cases where appropriate, a compensation payment is made.
‘Payments made by NHS Tayside are subsequently reclaimed under the Clinical Negligence and Other Risk Indemnity Scheme.’
‘A person suffering behind each claim’