NHS TRUSTS across West Yorkshire have paid out over £130 million in compensation to patients and their families over the past two years - and trusts in Bradford make up more than £18 million of that sum.
A freedom of information request has revealed how much money NHS Trusts have spent on legal damages between September 2019 and August 2021 and the reasons for the claims.
In Bradford, 104 claims were made to Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which covers Bradford Royal Infirmary, and St Lukes Hospital, and a total of £17,078,706 was handed out to patients and their families who had received insufficient care.
Bradford District Care Trust, which is responsible for running community care, including mental health services and dementia care, also spent almost £900,000 on compensation over the two years, but the reason for the claims cannot be listed due to the risk of identifying the patients.
Airedale NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Steeton’s Airedale General Hospital and covers West and North Yorkshire and also serves part of East Lancashire, spent more than £9 million in compensation over the two-year period.
Five of the claims, which cost the Trust just over £400,000, were due to additional or unnecessary operations and £900,000 was due to failure to recognise complication of treatment.
The data suggests that the fees are paid as PPO settlements which means that claimants will receive regular payments of a specified amount, rather than a lump-sum.
In May 2021 , Bradford Teaching Hospitals Trust paid out £10 million after the High Court in London ruled that a 10-year-old boy who suffered catastrophic brain damage as a baby after a catalogue of errors at Bradford Royal Infirmary (BRI) should receive a settlement as he would need to pay for a specially adapted home, and care for the rest of his life.
JMW, the law firm which handled the case, said that in 2017, Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust admitted its failures caused the boy’s brain damage after its investigation revealed a catalogue of errors at the BRI led to his mother becoming critically ill with sepsis, and the boy’s brain being starved of oxygen.
The boy's mother said: “This has been a horrendous ordeal that I would not wish on anyone. Nothing can give my son the life most other 10-year-old boys take for granted because of the appalling standard of care we received. It’s heart-breaking to think of any other families suffering as we have and hospitals need to understand the life-changing consequences their actions have."
More than £5 million was paid out by the Trust due to failure or delay of treatment, and 25 of the claims were due to orthopaedic injuries.
Other common claims were due to the failure or delay of diagnosis, inadequate nursing care, fatality and assault.
When Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was asked to comment, a spokesperson said: “The vast majority of the people we treat every year at Bradford Hospitals experience high quality, safe care. We are committed to making sure that we learn from our mistakes, and we share that learning across the organisation.”
A spokesperson for Bradford District Care Trust said: “We always strive to provide the best quality care across all of our services and to our staff, in isolated cases where this doesn't happen we work closely with the individuals involved. Although we cannot comment on individual cases we take learning from these claims very seriously, using it to make improvements for both service users and staff."
The Telegraph and Argus contacted Airedale NHS Foundation Trust but they did not wish to comment.
Across West Yorkshire, almost £132 million was spent on legal damages across various trusts, including The Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, Mid Yorkshire Hospitals NHS Trust and Calderdale & Huddersfield NHS Foundation Trust.
Throughout the country, almost £2 billion was spent on legal damages to patients or their families in the past two years.
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