Revealed: Trusts paying the highest negligence premiums

The trusts paying the highest premiums for clinical negligence as a proportion of their income have been revealed through HSJ analysis of internal data.

Several acute trusts in and around London are now spending more than 4% of their income on premium costs to insure themselves against clinical negligence, according to internal NHS data.

One expert suggested trusts with higher proportions of ethnic minority patients often have high rates of negligence claims against them, partly due to the complexity of medical presentation, but also communication problems.

Lisa Jordan, head of medical negligence at law firm Irwin Mitchell, said trusts that act as tertiary referral centres tend to admit the most complex cases, which are more likely to lead to claims.

She added: “Trusts in areas with higher proportions of ethnic minority groups, also often have higher rates. That is in part about the complexity of medical presentation, and also communication problems.”

Helen Hughes, chief executive of Patient Safety Learning, said: “Scarce funds that could be spent proactively improving the quality of care are being spent on the costs of error and harm.”

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Source: HSJ, 13 December 2023