£3.14m paid out in NHS compensation claims

NHS compensation claims at the Pennine Acute Trust, which runs Rochdale Infirmary, are the third highest in the country.

A total of £3.14 million was paid out for claims made to the trust, which runs hospitals in Rochdale, Oldham, Bury and North Manchester in the year 2008-09.

An investigation by a Sunday newspaper found one in four NHS trusts paid more to lawyers than to patients following a medical blunder claim.

In 2008-09, a total of £2,085,294 was paid out in damages by Pennine Acute for 10 claims involving departments such as cardiology and paediatrics.

Claimant costs totalled £794, 875 and defence costs were £403,984.

Steve Walker, chief executive of the NHS Litigation Authority, which manages all compensation claims, said the authority collects annual contributions from every trust depending on what they think will be spent that year.

He said: “If in any particular year for any particular trust we spend, for example, £50 million.

“That doesn’t mean that they have been particularly negligent. The claims we settle in any year may relate to events in previous years, up to 15 or even 20 years before.”