An analysis by The Telegraph shows 20 hospital trusts have paid out £1.1 billion for medical blunders in just five years. While below we tell the tragic story of a mother left severely brain damaged after giving birth to her daughter
More than £1.1bn has been paid out for blunders at just 20 NHS trusts in the past five years, a Telegraph investigation can disclose.
A league table reveals the trusts with the largest medical negligence bills in England – topped by a hospital trust which was embroiled in a scandal over the deaths of babies and mothers. In total, NHS trusts have paid out more than £4.5 billion in the past five years for medical mistakes. About a quarter was paid to law firms to cover legal costs and most of the rest in compensation to patients harmed by medical blunders.
The legal bill for medical blunders has quadrupled in the past decade, The Telegraph investigation shows. Action against Medical Accidents, the patient safety charity, said last night the growing scale of payouts was of huge concern and a massive burden on the NHS. “Clinical negligence is a huge and growing strain on the finances of the NHS, but the human cost is far greater,” said Peter Walsh, the charity’s chief executive, “Millions could be saved if there were more honesty and earlier admissions of liability.”
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/health/news/11733719/Medical-blunders-cost-NHS-billions.html
Filed under: Hospital, NHS, NHS Blunders, clinical negligence, Medical Blunders, NHS
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