The NHS paid out £1 BILLION in compensation in just five years

Figures obtained by Medical Negligence Assist found that, since 2019, NHS trusts have had to pay out over £1 billion compensation 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.

NHS claims for surgery errors

From 2019 to 2024, 11,405 claims regarding surgical errors were lodged against NHS Trusts, 8,400 of which were settled.

Medical Negligence Assist obtained figures on how much NHS Trusts have paid out to successful surgical error claims since 2019.

Over the past five years, the trusts have paid out a total of £1,065,961,731 with the highest amount coming in 2021/22 standing at £263,511,399.

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 England budget. In 1,000 of these claims, the primary speciality is general surgery.

Based on figures gathered from NHS Resolution, the trusts with the highest compensation costs since 2019 have been revealed.

University Hospitals Birmingham had the highest compensation costs at over £44m, with Barts Health NHS Trust following with costs of over £34m.

General surgery is not the only type of surgery in which errors can occur.

Tracking the mistakes

NHS Resolution also tracks claims for neuro, oral and maxillofacial, orthopaedic, plastic, and vascular surgeries.

NHS Resolution also disclosed the most frequent causes of surgery errors, as well as the injuries that resulted from them.

The most common causes for surgical error claims were failures/delays for treatment, which was lodged 1,999 times, and the most common surgery error injury was unnecessary pain, seeing 1,990 claims submitted.

Speaking to Medical Negligence Assist, Gareth Lloyd said:

Although they appear on the surface to be straightforward cases, surgical errors are much more complex than that and can cover a number of situations and outcomes.

For example, an operation to remove your gallbladder carries with it risks of damage to the bile duct, blood vessels, bowel and intestines. If one of these complications happens during the operation, nine times out of ten, there is no case, however, that doesn’t mean that there is no case at all, it just makes it more difficult to prove.

I once had a case involving a patient undergoing a gallbladder removal, and during the operation, one of the veins in his abdomen was damaged, which is a known risk and therefore wasn’t seen as a surgical error.

However, when I got the medical records, it transpired that the performing surgeon had completely severed the client’s hepatic artery, which isn’t a known complication, hence a successful case.

Medical Negligence Assist offers support to patients who may have suffered from a surgical error and can see if they have grounds to submit a claim.

They operate a 24-hour helpline and claim online form, which you can access on their website.

Featured image via the Canary