Hospital compensation bill tops £10m
Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust pays out nearly £10m in compensation for surgery errors since 2019
When an error occurs during surgery, patients can be left in unnecessary pain, giving them the option to lodge a claim, and NHS trusts across the country have had to pay out millions over the past few years.
Figures obtained by Medical Negligence Assist found that, since 2019, Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust has had to pay out nearly £10m to patients who have lodged claims following a surgery error.
Medical negligence solicitor for JF Law, Gareth Lloyd, said: “The chances of a patient suffering a surgical error are remote, yet every operation carries with it a number of risks, and if something goes wrong, there can be lifelong consequences.”
Surgical errors are unexpected mistakes or accidents that occur during procedures and they are classed as ‘never events’ as they are errors that should not have happened in surgery.
These errors can have significant physical, emotional and financial consequences for patients as they may require additional treatment and suffer even more pain.
A person affected by a surgery error can often make a surgical negligence claim against the NHS, where NHS Resolution will pay for their compensation.
This is a government scheme paid for by NHS Trusts that acts as an insurance policy and pays for NHS negligence claims.
Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust is the main provider of district general hospital services for nearly half a million people with its main service locations being the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford and the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital in Shrewsbury.
From 2019 to 2024, 73 claims regarding surgical errors were lodged against Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust, 57 of which were settled.
In 2019/2020, 16 claims were made against the trust, the third-highest number of claims over the past five years.
A year later, this number increased to 21 claims.
The service has experienced a drop in claims over the past year compared to 2022/23, with a total of 9.
Common errors can include foreign objects left in the body, such as surgical instruments and cleaning materials, as well as ‘wrong site surgery’, where patients can be put at a greater risk of infection and additional scarring.
Every year, 12,000 medicolegal claims are brought against the NHS in England at a cost of £8 billion – 6.7% of the NHS England budget. In 1,000 of these claims, the primary speciality is general surgery.
Moreover, general surgery is not the only type of surgery in which errors can occur. NHS Resolution also tracks claims for neuro, oral and maxillofacial, orthopaedic, plastic, and vascular surgeries.
Medical Negligence Assist obtained figures on how much Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust has paid out to successful surgical error claims since 2019.
Over the past five years, the trust has paid out a total of £9,950,719, with the highest amount coming in 2023/24 standing at £3,861,505.
Source: https://www.medicalnegligenceassist.co.uk/surgery-medical-negligence-claims
