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Wigan Infirmary hit by injury claims
Wigan Infirmary
EMPLOYEES at Wigan Infirmary have claimed nearly £200,000 in compensation for injuries they received at work.
The Wigan Evening Post can exclusively reveal that in the past two years, Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust (WWL) has been liable for £187,435.11 in compensation to employees following accidents at work.
The figures, which were obtained through a Freedom of Information request, also showed the top-10 pay-outs in 2009/10 and 2010/11, which were topped by a £55,000 claim from a worker who injured their back when stopping a plastic pipe from falling.
Other successful claims against WWL included an £18,500 pay-out to a worker who injured their wrist loading a dishwasher, and a £7,350 sum for a back injury caused by mopping the floor.
A spokesperson for WWL said: “Compensation to employees for accidents are paid by the NHSLA (National Health Service Litigation Authority).
“The trust pays a premium each year to the NHSLA to cover any potential liabilities that may arise.
“The figure is pre-determined each year, and the trust is informed of the amount that it needs to pay to the NHSLA each financial year. This determines the amount in our budget.”
WWL pays the first £10,000 of a claim (their liability excess) with the remainder coming from the NHSLA, but if it is under £10,000, WWL has to pay the full amount of the claim.
The top 10 pay-outs in the past two years were as follows:
£55,327 – Injured back when stopping a plastic pipe from falling outside the porters office at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary.
£20,600 – Slipped on a wet floor when leaving a bed bay. There were no wet floor signs.
£18,500 – Injured wrist when putting trays into a dishwasher with a faulty conveyor belt.
£16,000 – Soft tissue injury in the shoulder caused by standing on a stool to retrieve case notes from a high shelf. The files were packed tightly causing other files to fall down onto the claimant.
£9,000 – Wrist injury caused by helping a confused patient off the floor.
£7,534 – Claimant twisted their back when mopping the floor. The mop caught on a protruding screw on a sluice machine.
£6,000 – Non-specific injuries caused when claimant was alleged to have slipped on some grease whilst carrying dirty dishes to the washing up area, causing them to fall.
£5,500 – Injuries to forehead, arm and neck after claimant fell on a wet floor, where there were no wet floor signs.
£5,250 – Fractured arm caused by claimant slipping on clear liquid where there were no signs indicating a spillage or that the floor was wet.
£4,600 – Soft tissue injuries to neck and shoulders after claimant alleges they were hurt while lifting boxes of printer paper onto a high shelf.
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Comments
There are 10 comments to this article
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B. Fletcher
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 04:50 PMThe amount of compensation awarded for each specific part of the body is set out in a ponderous document called the Ogden Tables, it is not decided at random. The tables are are prepared by a multi-disciplinary group of actuaries, lawyers, accountants and insurers and they involve some fairly lengthy calculations relating to losses, based on the severity of the injury, and how it is likely to affect you in the future.
Jonnylp
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 01:51 PMName and shame them !! Think the people paying out must be getting a cut !!
jr123
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 12:58 PMMistress Ploppy I wonder maybe how you would have my colleagues and myself get casenotes from shelves that are nearly eight feet high without the use of footstools. Clearly you have no understanding of the abysmal conditions we are expected to work in. And after numerous phone calls and visits from our health and safety officer no changes have been made. It was only after the fire service had to be called out and they threatened to close the records library that many fire risks were cleared. It is not the work shy greedy b******s that are the problem as another poster mentions but the higher up that have simply no interest in front line staff but mearly themselves and their huge salaries!
Mr Good Guy
Thursday, February 9, 2012 at 12:11 PMyou only have to walk in the infirmary at the main entrance when visiting where they stack the trollies after feeding time by the kitchens,now theirs an accident claim if ever i saw one
Meyt n Prayter
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 10:33 PMI'm gobsmacked. the 18 grand for a hurt wrist loading a dishwasher is just disgusting,... seriously?? I'm actually ashamed for some of those people who have put in such ridiculous claims. but even more ashamed for the idiots who have decided to give these people money!!! The whole claim culture in this country is a sham and the genuine people might actually one day deserve financial help for serious issues will lose out because of selfish greedy people claiming for ridiculous things like a sprained wrist. I wonder how many of the people who slipped saw the cleaners mopping floors etc... but decided to slip seeing that there was no sign... as a patient who spent a long time in wigan hospital i saw people suffer a lot particularly due to staff shortages and lack of nurses due to cuts... this money that has been thrown at silly claims could have been used to pay for more nurses and actually help those in need.
cartmankenny
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 10:10 PMWho decides these ridiculous payouts? Were they challenged in court or just paid out willy nilly? The mind boggles. What is this country coming to. ? Back injury whilst mopping, wrist injury loading a washing machine. It's just pathetic. The floor was wet and there were no signs- Do the council have to put a sign on every pavement in the borough saying "ICY PAVEMENT"? A load of namby pamby work shy greedy b******s. It's a good job we don't have to fight another world war, we wouldn't stand a chance.
greenfingers
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 03:58 PMMy Partner works there, And the story's she tells me how all these records are stored are a accident just waiting to happen, as they have no more space to store them, they are left on floors, high shelves ect.
Trucker99
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 03:43 PMGet a decent Health & Safety manager for around 30k and more staff training ,should go a long way to preventing recurrences if the hospital are unable to manage staff ,what chance have the patients got ??
emmikins
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 02:27 PMIts moments like this which remind me that the trust has insurances to cover claims and makes me consider taking action to get financial compensation for the hell it put my daughter and our family through :
Mistress Ploppy
Wednesday, February 8, 2012 at 02:16 PM"£16,000 – Soft tissue injury in the shoulder caused by standing on a stool to retrieve case notes from a high shelf. The files were packed tightly causing other files to fall down onto the claimant." ...................................................So no issues at all about the fact that they shouldn't have been standing on a stool to do this in the first place.
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