Cost of negligence soars in NHS Scotland

This means the total sum owed to patients who have been the victim of medical errors is now worth almost five per cent of the annual health service budget. Medical chiefs last night warned that the rising cost of hospital blunders was in danger of having a detrimental impact on front line care. The alarming figures were revealed in the annual report from the Clinical Negligence and Other Risks Indemnity Scheme (CNORIS), the insurance scheme set up to cover health boards .

It shows that 300 claims worth £33.6million were settled in 2017/18, down from 424 claims worth £40.3million the year before.

The report also reveals that open claims worth an estimated £640million were outstanding at the year end, all of them "anticipated to be settled in favour of the claimant".

This figure includes around £420million of obstetrics and gynaecology claims and around £220million of other clinical and non-clinical claims.

At the end of 2016/17, the risk-adjusted figure for all outstanding claims stood at £400million and in the previous two years it was around £200million.

The CNORIS report estimates that around £140million worth of claims will be settled this year, rising to around £200million over the next two years.

Last night, a legal source said the settlements were often more expensive than they needed to be because the "NHS has no money so it is forced to defend absolutely every claim".

Lewis Morrison, Chair of BMA Scotland said: "Of course it’s right that there must be a fair and reasonable scheme for compensation that patients who suffer the results of clinical negligence can access. 

"But this must be balanced against the need to ensure it does not come at the expense of, or have an excessively detrimental impact on, front line health spending, which is under severe pressure. 

"At a time when the resources available are simply not keeping pace with rising demand for care, it is vital that the Scottish Government ensures that this balance is carefully struck and that doctors and all healthcare staff are funded effectively to deliver the high standards of care we all want to see.”

Scottish Conservative Highlands and Islands MSP Jamie Halcro Johnson has repeatedly quizzed Health Secretary Jeane Freeman on the issue of NHS compensation.

He said: "There has been a sharp increase in the last year – and while it is only right that people who have made these claims get the compensation they deserve, it is clear that we need to address this issue.

"These are mistakes that should not have happened, where people will have to live with sometimes catastrophic injuries for the rest of their lives, and claims that will take huge sums of money out of improving frontline services.

"We owe it to everyone in our NHS to look into what is causing this increase and to take serious action to ensure we address the mistakes being made which are causing this rise in compensation pay outs."

According to the CNORIS report, the majority of the 300 claims settled last year related to incidents which happened more than five years ago.

The report also notes that obstetric and gynaecology claims "can, due to a number of factors, take many years to conclude".

It is understood that most of these cases relate to birth defects caused by hospital blunders which are often not settled until the child is older.

Earlier this year, medical chiefs warned the NHS in England could be bankrupted by an "unsustainable" increase in negligence claims.

A Scottish Government spokeswoman said: "Scotland has one of the most transparent healthcare systems in the world and our NHS learns constantly from care experiences that go well and those where standards falls short. Particularly in rare case of clinical negligence, health boards and care professionals must learn from these situations and make improvements."