A new investigation has revealed the Isle of Wight NHS Trust has paid out almost £6million in compensation for children’s medical negligence claims lodged against the Trust in the last 5 years alone.
Fresh data obtained by Medical Negligence Assist shows that 4 NHS Trusts in our region have had a combined total of 142 claims and incidents of children’s medical negligence reported to NHS Resolution, the legal arm of the NHS since 2019.
Between them, the Trusts have settled 87 claims relating to children aged 0-17 with damages amounting to an eye-watering £115,137,153 – not including NHS or claimant legal costs paid.
Portsmouth Hospitals NHS Trust alone has paid out £62,812,812 settling 29 claims between 2019-2024, whilst Hampshire Hospitals NHS Trust paid out £24,602,066 settling 18 claims of children’s clinical negligence.
University Hospital Southampton Trust forked out £21,911,586 settling 33 legal cases lodged against it.
The Isle of Wight NHS Trust, the smallest of the 4 Trusts, settled on 7 out of 8 claims between 2019 and 2024, to the tune of £5,810,689.
An Isle of Wight NHS Trust spokesperson has told Island Echo:
“Patient safety is our top priority and our teams work really hard provide patients with safe and high quality care. There are occasions where we don’t get this right and we have robust processes in place to learn from this and prevent any future harm to patients.”
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Death, brain damage, cerebral palsy and bowel damage are just some of the conditions and injuries children have sustained as a result of medical negligence.
Nationally, failure and delays in treatment and diagnosis are among the top causes of child clinical negligence claims being lodged against NHS Trusts – and have cost the health service more than £3billion in compensation payouts alone in the last 5 years.
Other injuries included, Erb’s palsy, removal of testicles and hypoxia – which is a condition where cells or tissues do not have enough oxygen to function effectively and can lead to pneumonia, fibrosis or lung disease.
Poor children, I feel sad for them and their families. Sadly it doesn’t surprise me at all
Poor quality of Nurses and Doctors thesedays is the
problem.
Very sad.
NHS – The No Hope Service
Too many employees bleeding the system dry.
How many Doctors and Nurses do the job because
it’s a calling!.
Majority of them do it for the fat salaries and extortionate
pensions, not to mention the unlimited sick pay they get,
also working from home benefits for some positions.