Bradford hospital trust pays out £2m in cancer-related claims

Bradford Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust (BTHFT) paid out the highest amount for the lowest number of claims out of all UK Trusts in damages.

It ranked fourth in the country for the amount of damages paid out.

The investigation uncovered the Trust had seen 10 claims and incidents pertaining to cancer misdiagnosis and delayed diagnosis lodged against it since 2019.

The data was obtained from a series of Freedom of Information requests sent to NHS Resolution by Medical Negligence Assist (MNA).

Five claims and incidents were received by NHS Resolution between 2020/21 against Bradford's hospital trust, MNA found.

A further five were lodged between 2022/23.

Bradford Royal Infirmary, pictured (Image: Newsquest)

Of the 10 claims, six were closed or settled, costing the trust a total of £2,005,000.

A spokesperson for BTHFT said: “Our staff work hard to provide good and thorough investigations to all our patients with suspected cancer and the vast majority of people we treat every year experience high quality, safe and timely care.

“We are committed to making sure that we learn from where opportunities are missed in detecting cancer earlier, and that we share that learning across the organisation.

“We always try to deal with complaints and, where appropriate, litigation as quickly as possible to avoid further avoidable distress and provide support for patients and their families.”

It comes after England’s health ombudsman issued a warning about research into cancer complaints.

The Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman (PHSO) carried out more than 1,000 investigations related to cancer-related issues between April 2020 and December 2023.

Issues with diagnosis and treatment were the most common cancer-related issues investigated by PHSO, the Ombudsman said. 

These issues included treatment delays, misdiagnosis, failure to identify cancer, the mismanagement of conditions, and pain management.

Complaints about cancer care also included concerns about poor communication, complaint handling, referrals, and end-of-life care.

Most investigations were about lung cancer, followed by breast cancer and colorectal cancer.

Speaking in March, Rob Behrens, Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman, said: “Everyone deserves safe and effective care. But patient safety will always be at risk in environments that are understaffed and where staff are exhausted and under unsustainable pressure.

“We need to see concerted and sustained action from Government to make sure NHS leaders can prioritise the safety of patients and are accountable for doing so."

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson told the Nursing Times: “The NHS has seen and treated record numbers of cancer patients over the last two years and cancer is being diagnosed at an earlier stage, more often, with survival rates improving across almost all types.”

The spokesperson added that the Government had invested £2.3bn into speeding up cancer diagnosis and also launched 154 community diagnostic centres across England.