Death, brain damage and cerebral palsy are just some of the injuries resulting in claims of medical negligence involving children’s care across NHS Trusts in England since 2019.
Children’s medical negligence claims have cost NHS Trusts in England more than £3.1 billion in compensation payouts alone in the past five years. Failure and delays in treatment and diagnosis were among the top causes of legal cases lodged against NHS Trusts.
Research conducted by Medical Negligence Assist has found that between them, the Trusts have settled 3,388 claims.
“The consequence of clinical negligence involving children’s care can be life-changing for those affected but equally devastating for the families,” said Medical Negligence Assist solicitor Sophie Cope.
The issue of medical negligence when it comes to children’s care has been in sharp focus with recent cases such as that of former Great Ormond Street orthopaedic surgeon, Yaser Jabbar who faces allegations of leaving dozens of children with life-altering conditions and some requiring amputations due to botched surgery between 2019 and 2023.
Delays in treatment
A total of 127 NHS Trusts across England have had a combined 5,657 claims and incidents of medical negligence involving children aged between 0-17 reported to the NHS legal body since 2019.
Mid and South Essex NHS Trust alone has had to pay out £103.3 million settling 74 claims between 2019-2024. This is more than any other Trust in England.
The highest number of claims, however, have been settled by Manchester University Trust which has had to pay out £76.8 million to settle 104 legal claims of child medical negligence lodged against it in the past five years.
Since 2019, it has had 223 claims and incidents of clinical neglect involving children’s care reported to the NHS legal body.
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 across NHS Trusts in England.
The investigation from Medical Negligence Assist showed that 6,536 children’s clinical negligence claims and incidents have been reported to the NHS legal body in the last five years.
Of those, 1,491 pertained to failure or delays in treatment and a further 1,079 were regarding failure or delays in diagnosis.
Death as a result of clinical negligence was the most prevalent type of claim, of which there have been 465 lodged against NHS Trusts in the last five years, with settlement payouts amounting to £34.3 million.
