December 4, 2017 3.35 pm This story is over 75 months old

Lincolnshire NHS trusts pay out almost £25m on medical negligence

Majority of this overall cost came from ULHT.

Medical negligence claims in one year cost three NHS trusts in Lincolnshire almost £25 million.

Figures from NHS Resolution, which handles the claims on behalf of NHS trusts, highlighted that some £24,829,398 was paid by Lincolnshire Community Health Services (LCHS), Lincolnshire Partnership NHS Foundation Trust (LPFT) and United Lincolnshire Hospitals NHS Trust (ULHT) in the financial year 2016/2017.

The majority of this overall cost came from ULHT which paid out a total of £24,203,652 on medical negligence claims, while LCHS spent £345,612 and LPFT spent £280,135.

These claims were split into damages, defence costs and claimant costs, with ULHT spending £14,857,528 on damages alone.

Currently, there are four negligence scheme which cover these costs. These include:

  • Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts (CNST) – which covers incidents that occurred after April 1995
  • Existing Liabilities Scheme (ELS) – which covers incidents that occurred before April 1995
  • Regional Health Authorities – which was abolished in 1996
  • Department of Health – which covers remaining clinical negligence liabilities

NHS Resolution figures only include CNST and ELS, which means the total amount paid in Lincolnshire could be more.

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