Wigan's NHS trust made to pay millions of pounds in damages following 'serious mistakes' in care

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 46 clinical negligence claims against Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust were successful in 2019-20.

A total damages bill of £2.9m was paid out in relation to these claims over the year, while further legal costs totalled £445,794.

Successful claims against the trust were down 10 per cent compared to the 51 reported in 2018-19, when £3.3m was paid in damages.

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 £8.3bn nationally, down from £9bn in 2018-19.

He said: “We continue to play our part in reducing the cost of claims through actions to improve both patient safety and the way incidents and complaints are handled but, as a National Audit Office report published in 2017 concluded, any strategy to tackle the drivers of cost will need to include legal reform.

“We hope that through reform, a way can be found to significantly reduce the cost to the public purse at no detriment to justice.”

In January, the Government is due to publish its review of a consultation on fixed recoverable costs – the amount of money the winning party of a claim can request from the losing party – for claims less than £25,000. Recoverable legal costs for clinical negligence claims are currently uncapped.

Overall, NHS Resolution was notified of 50 formal negligence claims against Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Trust in 2019-20, as well as eight further incidents which could result in a claim.

Of those, between one and four were related to obstetrics – care provided during pregnancy and childbirth. An approximate number is recorded where the number of claims is below five, to prevent identification of individual patients.

Earlier this year, the Medical Defence Union, which provides support and advice for doctors, dentists and other healthcare workers, warned the number of claims against the NHS could increase following the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dr Michael Devlin, the union’s head of professional standards and liaison, said: “Every example of negligence takes its toll on the patients and families involved, but the compensation being paid out puts enormous pressure on NHS funding, especially at a time when the NHS needs to recover from the pandemic.”

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