Trust pays out £2m for cancer misdiagnoses
A NHS trust in Yorkshire has paid out £2m following six claims of cancer misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis in the last five years.
According to medical negligence specialists Medical Negligence Assist, the Bradford hospital trust “paid out the highest amount for the lowest number of claims of all UK trusts in damages”.
The trust has faced 10 claims since 2019, six of which had been closed or settled, according to freedom of information requests made to NHS Resolution.
The trust with the most claims closed or settled was the Leicester NHS trust with 26. So far it has paid damages of £3.5m, followed by the Lincolnshire NHS trust, which has paid £2.7m on 13 claims.
Last month the parliamentary and health service ombudsman, which investigates complaints about the NHS in England, said that between April 2020 and December 2023, 185 of 1,019 investigations relating to patients with cancer were upheld or partly upheld. Most related to issues around diagnosis and treatment, including delays and mismanagement of conditions.
Ombudsman Rob Behrens said the underlying problem was rooted in staffing levels, saying patient safety would always be at risk in workplaces that are "understaffed and where staff are exhausted and under unsustainable pressure".
York MP Rachael Maskell sits on the Health Select Committee, which is currently looking at NHS leadership, performance and patient safety.
Despite a raft of inquiries, the culture in the NHS “still hasn't shifted” to a more open culture, she said: “If you have a closed shop it drives a more adversarial approach and pushes more things into litigation.
“Most people say the one thing they want is an apology or it not to happen to anyone else. Being able to have an open culture will not only reduce risk but reduce the risk for litigation.”
A spokesperson for the Bradford trust said: “Our staff work hard to provide good and thorough investigations to all our patients with suspected cancer and the vast majority of people we treat every year experience high quality, safe and timely care.”