£30 million paid out in damages by hospital trusts in region

Someone can bring a claim against an NHS trust if it is believed they, or a family member, suffered harm or died due to negligent treatment.

Data from NHS Resolution, which handles such cases on behalf of the NHS, reveals 54 clinical negligence claims against The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust were successful in 2019-20.

A total damages bill of £3 million was paid out in relation to these claims over the year, while further legal costs totalled £527,038.

Successful claims against the trust were up 20 per cent compared to the 45 reported in 2018-19, when £6.3 million was paid in damages.

A total of 42 claims were successful against The Dudley Group NHS Foundation Trust in 2019-20, which included a bill of £14.9 million with £940,570 in legal costs. This was up five per cent compared to the previous year.

'The elephant in the room'

At Walsall Healthcare NHS Trust, 53 claims were successful costing £6.8 million and £823,871 in legal costs – up 26 per cent on the previous year.

At Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust, £1.5 million was paid out in 44 claims with £362,372 in legal costs, which was down eight per cent on the previous year.

In Staffordshire, 89 claims were successful at University Hospitals of North Midlands and a bill of £13.7 million was paid out, and £1.3 million in legal costs. The number was in line with the previous year.

The Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts, administered by NHS Resolution, handles all negligence claims against members for incidents which happened after April 1 1995. This means claims could be settled for harm which occurred years before.

Trusts pay into the scheme on a pay-as-you-go basis to cover the bill due each year.

In a report, Ian Dilks, chairman of NHS Resolution, said the price of negligence across the NHS remains “the elephant in the room” despite the overall cost of harm for clinical negligence falling to £8.3 billion nationally, down from £9 billion in 2018-19.