New Cross health trust's £12m medical blunder bill revealed
Medical blunders by the NHS trust which runs New Cross Hospital led to almost £12 million in payouts and associated costs in just one year.
A total of £11.9m – of which £7.8m were compensation payments – was paid out on behalf of The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust for clinical negligence claims in 2016/17, new figures have revealed.
The trust, which also runs West Park Hospital and Cannock Chase Hospital, tops the table for payouts and costs in the Black Country and has seen its bill rise significantly from £3m in 2015/16.
The remainder of the money paid out on behalf of the trust for negligence claims went to defence and claimant costs.
Some of the payouts go back to cases many years ago.
NHS Resolution funds the total cost of clinical negligence claims dating from 1995 on behalf of health trusts. It replaced the NHS Litigation Authority this year.
Hospital trust spokesman Sally Evans said: “Patient safety is our top priority in the Trust, regrettably things do go wrong and claims are made.
“We always investigate and carry out a review of clinical practices to ensure we learn from such incidents and prevent similar patient harm occurring.”
Elsewhere in the Black Country, The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Russells Hall Hospital, had a total bill of £9.6m paid over 2016/17, up from £5.6m the year before.
Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust saw its bill drop from £14.4m in 2015/16 to £8.7m in 2016/17. The trust runs City Hospital in Birmingham and Sandwell General Hospital.
Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, which runs Walsall Manor, had a bill paid of £6.7m in 2016/17, down from £15.3m the year before.
At Dudley & Walsall Mental Health Partnership Trust, just £20,740 was paid out in 2016/17, down from £109,193.
And at the Black Country Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, £84,122 was paid out, down from £116,384.
Rob Quarmby, a Liberal Democrat campaigner from Wolverhampton, compiled the figures.
He said: "The costs of clinical negligence claims are spiralling at a time of immense financial pressures on our National Health Service, taking scarce resources away from frontline services and patients.
“Every pound that is spent on lawyers a pound less we can spend on the NHS. It really is that simple. Health bosses need to do more to deal with this.
“NHS staff do an amazing job and there will be claims that are serious and need to be taken to court."
