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Barts Health NHS Trust paid out £73.8m for brain damage claims in past five years

Barts has paid out more for brain damage and cerebral palsy claims than any other London NHS trust since 2020, reports Marco Marcelline

Whipps Cross Hospital is managed by Barts Health NHS Trust

Barts Health NHS Trust has paid out £73.8m for cerebral palsy or brain damage negligence claims in the past five years, more than any other London NHS trust.

According to data, which was obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by Medical Negligence Assist, 127 claims were settled in that time against London NHS trusts.

Together the 13 trusts paid out £480m in damages over negligence related to cerebral palsy and brain damage.

The NHS legal costs for the cases amounted to £149m. It also paid £43m to cover the claimant’s legal costs, bringing the total cost to the NHS to £538.6m.

Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust came second, costing the NHS £59.9m, while Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust cost the third most at £55m

Clinical negligence occurs when a patient is harmed by a healthcare professional who provided care below the standard expected of them.

Cerebral palsy is usually caused by a problem that affects the development of a baby’s brain while it’s growing in the womb. It can also be caused by damage to a baby’s brain during or shortly after birth.

In total, there have been 1,118 clinical negligence claims against the NHS in England regarding cerebral palsy or brain damage since 2019. 

The most common cause was failed or delayed treatment, followed by failure to monitor the fetal heart rate, and failure to manage second-stage labour.

A spokesperson for Barts Health NHS Trust told the Echo: “We deliver over 14,000 babies every year which makes our group of hospitals one of the biggest providers of maternity services in the country. We are committed to delivering high-quality care to all women and babies in our maternity departments and are continuously making improvements to reduce the number of preventable birth injuries.”

Barts says it has been investing in equipment to monitor the carbon monoxide levels of women in pregnancy and monitor foetal wellbeing with artificial intelligence support.

The trust says it has also been increasing the number of scans that women and birthing people at high-risk have during their pregnancy and is continuing to recruit midwives amid a national shortage.


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