NHS faces paying out £1 million over Savile
The NHS has been left with a £1 million bill to cover the legal costs of the victims of Jimmy Savile after the late sexual predator’s estate contributed just £53,000.
The television presenter raped and assaulted scores of patients, staff and visitors in 41 hospitals, a children’s home and a hospice over nearly 50 years.
Victims included children as young as five, paralysed teenagers in wheelchairs and pregnant women.
Savile died aged 84 in 2011 before his crimes were revealed, and was reported to have had an estate worth at least £4m.
Of the £1.1 million NHS bill, much of which is legal fees rather than compensation, Savile’s estate paid £53,245, The Sunday Times reported. On average, 52 victims received just £9,615. Sexual abuse survivors’ groups branded the reimbursement from Savile’s estate “pretty appalling” and described the payouts as “peanuts”.
Many of Savile’s victims needed significant amounts of money to pay for private therapy that the NHS was often unable to provide, experts said. Some will require specialist care for the rest of their lives.
Peter Saunders, founder of the National Association for People Abused in Childhood, said: “The real winners in these situations tend to be the lawyers, I’m afraid.”