NHS Trust across County Durham and Darlington handed out £32m in claims costs

Since the start of 2019, it’s been revealed that 171 patients have claimed from the regional hospital trust for things ranging from ‘operator error’, ‘slip or trip suits’ or ‘delayed diagnosis’.

Through a Freedom of Information request made last week, The Northern Echo can now confirm that the Trust have had to settle legal battles totalling £32.497m – some cases dating back to as recent as August 2021.

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Within the figures, CDDFT have had to shell out a little over £6m for 15 cases of failed or delayed treatment, while failed/delayed diagnosis made up £4.7m and operator error saw a compensation cost from the NHS Trust of £2.9m.

The other claims filed in the data include cases of inappropriate treatment, ten occasions of inadequate nursing care, several medication errors and nine incidents of people slipping or tripping on hospital grounds.

After the figures came to light earlier today, the County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust have said that the compensation claims are “always taken seriously,” but include some data that was yet to be processed from before the 2019-2021 window – which they believe “distorts” the true total.

Within the data, £6m was shelled out by the regional Trust for delayed or failed treatment and £4.7m was given in compensation for failed/delayed diagnosis.

In a statement, a spokesperson for the regional hospital Trust said: “The figures are reflective of claims closed between 2019-2021, however, this is inclusive of periodical payments incurred by the Trust from high value closed claims in previous years.

“Claims are taken very seriously and, where learning is identified, appropriate action plans are developed to ensure that changes are made where necessary.”

These most recent statistics supplied to The Northern Echo are all part of a bigger conversation surrounding lawsuits within the NHS and finances relating to paying patients who have claimed against the health service.

Issues surrounding medication also cost the County Durham and Darlington NHS Trust dearly between 2019 and this year.

In the UK, there have been 17,715 claims since January 2019 against hospital trusts – which equates to over £3.8bn in compensation that the NHS has paid out.   

Overall, the Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust fared the worst, with £97m being paid out to 356 individual patients in the 2019-2021 period.

Following the release of the data, NHS Resolution, who are tasked with processing and investigating claims made against each NHS Trust across the UK, has acknowledged that things can go wrong in medical procedures from time to time, but hasn’t addressed the overall £3.8bn litigation total.

In national figures, £3.8bn was paid out by all of the NHS hospital trusts between 2019 and August 2021.

In a statement, a spokesperson for NHS Resolution said: “On the whole, NHS healthcare is generally very good, and most people don’t experience any difficulties. But occasionally things can go wrong.”

“It is important that we pay compensation quickly where this is due, however it’s important to understand that making a claim can be an expensive, stressful and potentially a lengthy process.”

Alongside the statement from the NHS, the Department of Health has pledged to tackle "the unsustainable rise in the cost of clinical negligence", while the Medical Defence Union, which supports doctors at risk of litigation, are calling for "a fundamental" reform of the current system.

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