The “eye-watering” amount paid by NHS Wales in the past five years reflects the “crisis” engulfing the service, the Welsh parliament has heard. 

NHS Wales has paid out more than £600 million in clinical negligence and personal injury claims in the past five years, the Welsh parliament has heard. 

Darren Millar, Welsh Conservative leader, revealed the figure while addressing first minister Rhun ap Iorworth in the Senedd, describing the number as “eye-watering” and further evidence of the “crisis” engulfing the NHS in Wales. 

Millar said that of the sum, £145 million had been paid in the last year alone. 

“Every pound paid in compensation is a pound that could have been invested in delivering better care,” Millar added, demanding to know what action the government is taking to get a “grip” on the issue and urging the first minister to declare a health emergency. 

In response, ap Iorworth agreed that money spent on compensation payouts could have been invested in frontline services. While acknowledging that mistakes will always be made, he said the government is determined to root out issues that are creating “unsustainability” in the NHS, which may in turn lead to payouts. 

The first minister declined to declare a health emergency, adding: “I don’t think we could be treating the NHS with a higher level of urgency than we are currently.”

Extra funding

In the summer, Plaid Cymru announced plans to spend an additional £145 million this year on slashing waiting times and diagnostic hubs. The extra funding was part of the government’s supplementary budget for this financial year, having inherited Labour’s £27 billion budget, when the party came to power in June. 

Speaking to the Welsh parliament this month, ap Iorworth said he hoped his party could reduce the number of errors that happen within the health service. 

The debate comes as more than 11,000 patients waited more than 12 hours in Welsh emergency departments last month. 

The government must take emergency action on bed capacity and hospital overcrowding, or face A&Es becoming overwhelmed this winter, the Royal College of Emergency Medicine warned. 

Some 11,600 patients, roughly 17%, who attended a major emergency department in September waited more than half a day before being discharged, admitted or transferred, the latest data shows. Meanwhile, only 50% of patients passed through A&E within four hours. The NHS-mandated target is 95% of patients.  As a result, last month was the worst September on record for long waits.  The key driver, the college said, is the lack of available inpatient beds, caused largely by delays to discharges. 

Speaking to the parliament, Millar expressed his fear that with such bleak statistics, the compensation payout “situation” will worsen. Ap Iorworth said his government was taking steps to create a system that works well together, but this will take time.