NHS made compensation payout of £14m
As a result of claims on clinical negligence the NHS last year paid out
compensation of £14 million across Sussex, statistics from the Government have shown.
The figures also suggest a rise of more than £5.5 million on the previous year and include a year-on-year jump for the East Sussex NHS Trust from £1.2 million to £5.5 million.
Reports said that in Brighton and Hove it fell from a 10-year high of £7 in 2006-07 to £2 million.
But the bill at Worthing and Southlands Hospital NHS Trust soared from £560,000 to £5.9 million in the same period.
A midwife, Jennifer Rhodes-Hampton, who was left disabled after an attack by a woman whose baby she had helped deliver, was paid compensation by the trust.
But the rise in payout was blamed on no win no fee claims as people were encouraged to seek compensation.
“This is a situation created by our increasingly litigious society. The NHS is no less careful than it has been before,” said Lib Dem MP for Lewes, Norman Baker.
Updated on 11/19/2008