Local hospital compensation claims rise to £11m

The NHS has paid out almost £11 million for cases of clinical negligence involving hospitals across the region in just one year.

According to information from the NHS Litigation Authority, £10.9million was paid out in compensation during 2008/9 for patients treated at Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, which runs Rochdale Infirmary, the Royal Oldham Hospital, Fairfield General and North Manchester.

The previous year £9.97 million was forked out.

All compensation is dealt with by a national body, the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA), and nationally £870 million was paid out last year compared with £661 million in 2007/8.

The amounts include both damages paid to claimants — mainly patients and members of the public, but also includes legal costs incurred on both sides where these are paid by the NHS.

Ruth Jameson, medical director at The Pennine Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “As the largest NHS trust in the North-West and one of the largest in England we run five hospitals, employ around 10,000 staff and serve a population of 800,000 people.

“We spend over half a billion pounds a year on providing quality healthcare services and have the most accident and emergency attendances nationally and in 2007/08 we delivered the most births nationally across our hospitals. Larger trusts who serve a larger population are clearly more likely to receive compensation claims than smaller trusts or those providing low-risk care.

“Our priority is to provide the very best care for each patient on every occasion.

“The vast majority of the thousands of patients that we treat and care for every day receive and experience a good quality, safe and effective healthcare service.”