NHS pays out £48m in West Midlands clinical negligence cases
Aug 20 2009 By Jonathan Walker
The NHS has paid out more than £48 million on behalf of West Midlands hospitals in one year, following clinical negligence cases bought by patients.
Of that amount, £31 million was paid to patients, while £17 million was spent on legal fees.
Ministers admitted they were “concerned” about the amount of NHS money going to the legal profession, and will publish proposals to change the law by the end of the year.
The trust with the highest payments was Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley. Cases against the trust led to payouts of more than £9 million, of which £7.5 million went to patients.
And claims against Heart of England NHS Trust, which runs Good Hope and Heartlands hospitals in Birmingham as well as Solihull Hospital, came to £8.4 million, of which £5.6 million went to patients.
Payments are made by the NHS Litigation Authority, an NHS body, which provides insurance to local health trusts.
The figures show that £48.4 million was paid out in 2008-9 for hospitals and primary care trusts in the West Midlands.
This included £5.3 million spent on defence costs - but £11.6 million was spent on legal fees claimed by patients bringing cases.
Conservative MP Andrew Mitchell (Con Sutton Coldfield) said: “We do need a fair a system for patients who have received negligent treatment in an NHS hospital to get the compensation they deserve.
“But instead, we have a deeply regrettable system which incurs vast legal costs for NHS Trusts involved in legal battles.”
A spokesman for the NHS Litigation Authority said: “The defence costs are incurred by lawyers employed by us. They are doing pretty much the same thing as the claimant’s legal team, but often charge much more.
“We have called for the rules governing fees to be changed, to bring back a bit of common sense and prevent the legal profession charging so much.”
The Ministry of Justice has asked High Court judge Lord Justice Jackson to review the cost of bringing civil cases such as clinical negligence cases.
A spokeswoman for Heart of England NHS Trust said: “We are one of the largest trusts in the country, seeing and treating hundreds of thousands of patients every year, with a great deal of our work highly specialised and complex.
“Cases are often settled out of court to avoid lengthy trials, and to ensure any outstanding issues are resolved swiftly wherever possible.
“As with all other NHS organisations, any financial settlement is agreed by an external agency. These figures may not necessarily reflect current practice as claims can be ongoing for several years.”
Paul Farenden, Chief Executive of Dudley Group of Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “We take all claims received against the Trust very seriously and thoroughly investigate these in conjunction with the NHS Litigation Authority Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts which covers all of our claims.
“The amount of compensation paid out on behalf of the Trust in 2008/09 was unusually high as this included settlement for some claims raised in previous years.”
Conservative leader David Cameron will today confirm a Tory pledge to continue increases in NHS funding and outline plans to introduce competition and “the opening up of the NHS to new providers”.
Table of payouts
All hospitals are NHS Trusts, except those marked (F), which are NHS Foundation Trusts
| Damages paid | Defence costs | Claimant costs | Total paid | |
| Dudley Group of Hospitals (F) | £7,468,146 | £317,222 | £1,219,392 | £9,004,760 |
| Heart of England (F) | £5,631,991 | £631,444 | £2,088,214 | £8,351,649 |
| Worcestershire Acute Hospitals | £3,550,931 | £321,647 | £ 998,203 | £4,870,781 |
| Sandwell & West Birmingham Hospitals | £2,472,540 | £502,404 | £ 931,151 | £3,906,095 |
| University Hospital Birmingham (F) | £2,484,234 | £292,426 | £ 660,904 | £3,437,564 |
| University Hospitals Coventry & Warks | £1,197,058 | £449,630 | £ 528,529 | £2,175,217 |
| Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals | £ 953,048 | £369,620 | £ 549,137 | £1,871,806 |
| Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital | £ 785,238 | £366,708 | £ 629,684 | £1,781,629 |
| Mid Staffordshire (F) | £1,042,934 | £ 83,236 | £ 427,825 | £1,553,995 |
| University Hospital Of North Staffordshire | £ 829,874 | £241,678 | £ 335,506 | £1,407,058 |
| Walsall Hospitals | £ 545,298 | £291,447 | £ 458,471 | £1,295,217 |
| Burton Hospitals (F) | £ 689,768 | £126,734 | £ 331,145 | £1,147,646 |
| South Warwickshire General Hospitals | £ 434,000 | £156,098 | £ 487,241 | £1,077,339 |
| Robert Jones & Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic | £ 778,006 | £ 76,520 | £ 131,735 | £ 986,261 |
| George Eliot Hospital | £ 305,500 | £359,765 | £ 312,316 | £ 977,581 |
| Hereford Hospitals | £ 478,803 | £ 61,749 | £ 216,823 | £ 757,375 |
| Birmingham Women’s (F) | £ 276,760 | £115,109 | £ 212,500 | £ 604,368 |
| Birmingham Children’s Hospital (F) | £ 207,708 | £ 85,536 | £ 255,245 | £ 548,489 |
| The Royal Orthopaedic Hospital (F) | £ 206,250 | £ 77,426 | £ 120,900 | £ 404,576 |
| West Midlands Ambulance Service | £ 172,500 | £ 39,158 | £ 189,728 | £ 401,386 |
| Worcestershire Mental HealthPartnership | £ 192,000 | £ 14,513 | £ 30,000 | £ 236,513 |
| North Staffordshire Combined Healthcare | £ 65,000 | £100,131 | £ 47,000 | £ 212,131 |
| Birmingham & Solihull Mental Health (F) | £ 3,000 | £ 67,361 | £ - | £ 70,361 |
| Sandwell Mental Hlth and Social Care (F) | £ - | £ 28,327 | £ 18,500 | £ 46,827 |
| Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership | £ - | £ 20,458 | £ - | £ 20,458 |
