NHS trusts in England have paid out more than £90 million on gynaecology-related claims in just five years.
The figures, obtained by Medical Negligence Assist via freedom of information requests, showed that £91.8 million has been paid out to patients between 2020 and last year by 94 trusts in England, with Liverpool Women’s Hospital NHS Foundation Trust the biggest compensator. It handed out £6.3 million, which makes up 6.8% of all damages.
In the capital, while Chelsea & Westminster Hospital NHS Foundation Trust managed to avoid paying out claims, East London’s Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust saw the largest hike in compensation paid out.
In 2020/21, the trust paid out £278,455, which had grown 8.8 times to £2.5 million last year.
“The figures paint a distressing time for women. As the data shows, negligence in gynaecological care can lead to serious injuries such as infertility, bladder and bowel problems, which can throw people’s lives upside down,” said Gareth Lloyd, head of medical negligence at JF Law.
“More needs to be done to protect women in the UK, and for those women who suffered due to medical negligence, they deserve to be compensated,” he continued.
The figures highlight two distinct problems that remain in the UK. First, the problem with gynaecological care and that with claims.
Two problems
As Healthcare Today reported at the end of January, gynaecological waiting lists remain high and inequalities are widening. Although the number of women on waiting lists has dropped marginally by 3% since November 2024, 743,312 women still remain on the list.
Demand in England has grown, with 1.61 million gynaecology referrals between October 2024 and October 2025, up from 1.22 million between October 2019 and October 2020 – an increase of around 24%.
To meet the government’s target of seeing 92% of patients within 18 weeks by March 2029, performance would need to improve by around 1 percentage point every month from now on. Based on the current trajectory, the government will fail to meet this target.
“Our members are working tirelessly to meet rising demand, but pressures across services mean capacity is stretched at every stage of care. With the right investment, there is a real opportunity to change this situation for women,” said Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ president Alison Wright.
At the same time, there is a rise in clinical negligence claims.
In February, Healthcare Today discussed a report from the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) has found that not only has the government’s liability for clinical negligence quadrupled over the past two decades to £60 billion last year, the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) is unable to show any meaningful action taken to address this, and the NHS has not done enough to tackle the underlying causes of patient harm.
“Clinical negligence is the second-largest financial liability across government, but represents to our committee a different matter entirely from other large items like nuclear decommissioning or pensions. This is a swelling accounting of profound suffering,” said Geoffrey Clifton-Brown, chair of the Public Accounts Committee.
“These figures are concerning, particularly given the ongoing pressures on gynaecology services,” said Matilda Blundell, trainee solicitor at Tomlin & Partners. “Working in clinical negligence, we see how delays in diagnosis or complications in treatment can have lasting consequences for health and wellbeing. While compensation is important for those affected, there must also be a continued focus on learning from these cases to reduce avoidable harm in the future.”
