NHS payouts for errors resulting in loss of life or harm greater than double to nearly £3billion

Almost £3billion was paid out in NHS compensation last year after the total paid out for death and injuries more than doubled in a decade.

The NHS paid out a record £2.8bn in compensation in 2023/24 in England – more than 140% higher than 2014/15’s figure of £1.2bn. As NHS delays for operation and in A&E have skyrocketed over the last decade, so compensation claims for injury and deaths have spiralled. It means £21.3bn has been paid out for NHS delays or errors in 121,000 settled claims over the period.

Liberal Democrats, which commissioned the research from the House of Commons Library, said the figures were “the price that patients have paid for years of neglect” under the Tories. Lib Dem spokeswoman Jess Brown-Fuller MP said: “These figures expose the true cost of years of neglect under the previous Conservative government. Each payout represents the horrific trauma endured by too many patients, who are forced to navigate an NHS that has been run into the ground.”

Last year four in every 10 compensation payouts related to poor maternity care, equating to £1.15bn. It comes after top midwife Donna Ockenden conducted a series of inquiries into baby death scandals at NHS trusts.

Earlier this month one NHS trust was fined £1.6million for “avoidable failings” connected to the deaths of three babies in 2021. Adele O’Sullivan, Kahlani Rawson and Quinn Parker died shortly after they were born – all within 14 weeks of each other – while under the care of Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) NHS Trust.

The trust admitted six counts of failing to provide safe care and treatment to the babies and their mothers on Monday, following a prosecution brought by the healthcare watchdog, the Care Quality Commission (CQC). Adele died at just 26 minutes old on April 7 2021, Kahlani died aged four days old on 15 June, and Quinn was two days old when he died on July 16.

Ms Brown Fuller added: “The Conservative Party should hang its head in shame but the new government’s approach to rescuing our NHS currently resembles nothing more than kicking the can down the road. That is why we need to see them complete their social care review within the next twelve months and implement the full actions from the Ockenden report immediately. Patients cannot afford the government to drag its feet any longer.”

The data was obtained from the NHS Resolution which is the national NHS body for England which defends clinical negligence claims and pays compensation to injured patients. Some individual Trusts paid out staggering sums with Barts Health NHS Trust paying out £94.5m, while both Mid and South Essex NHS Trust, £65 million and Manchester University NHS Trust paid out £61m.

It comes after Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer announced that the Government has already delivered two million extra NHS appointments – a key Labour manifesto pledge – seven months early. NHS England figures show that between July and November 2024 there were almost 2.2m more appointments compared with the equivalent period in 2023.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting told BBC Breakfast on Monday: “We’re not doing victory laps – a lot done, a hell of a lot more to do. I wish I could sit here now and tell you that, by next Christmas, there will be no-one waiting on a trolley in a corridor. I can’t make that promise, but what I can tell you is that we will deliver year-on-year improvement, and I’m determined to see an end to that kind of corridor care. I don’t think it should be allowed to be normalised.

“It has become common practice, but that doesn’t mean we should accept it as normal, or normalised, or acceptable practice. I understand why it’s there now, I understand what frontline NHS leaders are having to grapple with in terms of demand, but we must not allow that kind of care to be normalised in our NHS. It is not dignified and it is not as safe as it should be, and that’s why I’m determined to put an end to it. But it will take time.”

Some 62% of the extra two million appointments delivered by the Government was made up of outpatient appointments, 26% diagnostic tests and 12% elective operations.

Sir Keir said: “This isn’t just about numbers. It’s about the cancer patients who for too long were left wondering when they’ll finally start getting their life-saving treatment. It’s about the millions of people who’ve put their lives and livelihoods on hold – waiting in pain and uncertainty as they wait for a diagnosis.

“We said we’d turn this around and that’s exactly what we’re doing – this milestone is a shot in the arm for our plan to get the NHS back on its feet and cut waiting times. But we’re not complacent and we know the job isn’t done.”

A spokesman for the Department of Health and Social Care said: “This government inherited a broken NHS, with the costs of clinical negligence claims more than doubling in the last decade.

“Our sympathies are with those affected and we are determined to ensure that all patients – including women and their babies – receive safe, personalised and compassionate care. It will take time to turn the NHS around, but we have already started by delivering 2 million more appointments seven months ahead of schedule.”