- By Olimpia Zagnat
- BBC News, Nottingham
The trust runs Nottingham City Hospital (pictured) and Queen’s Medical Centre
The NHS paid out tens of millions of pounds over maternity failings at a hospital trust which is the subject of a major inquiry.
Including legal fees, £101m was paid in claims against Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH) between 2006 and 2023.
Experts say lives could be saved if the trust invested more in learning from its mistakes.
About 100 families involved in the review led by senior midwife Donna Ockenden met up earlier this month
The NHS paid the money in relation to 134 cases over failings at the Queen’s Medical Centre (QMC) and City Hospital.
The majority – £85m – was damages for families who were successful in proving their baby’s death or injury was a result of medical negligence.
Claimants’ legal fees amounted to £11m, and the trust’s own solicitors were paid £5m.
One single mother, who cannot be named for legal reasons, sued the trust over mistakes made during her son’s care which left him with cerebral palsy.
She described her legal battle as a “laborious process” during which she felt she faced prejudice for taking the NHS to court.
“Getting any sort of diagnosis for [him] when he was younger was a battle,” she said.
“As he got older, it became a thing that was brought up every time by professionals, that ‘she is suing the NHS’.”
Cerebral palsy claims accounted for more than half of the compensation paid
It took more than 10 years for the case to be settled with a £6m one-off payment in the child’s name, and annual future payments running into tens of millions over his lifetime.
“It’s not a choice. It’s not because we wanted to. It’s not something that I actively thought of, ‘I’ll get some money out of this’.”
She described raising a teenage son with cerebral palsy as like “grieving for a child that’s still here”.
“He has to have enough money so when I’m not here, which is going to happen, he is being taken care of.”
More than half of the payouts in Nottingham’s maternity cases went into covering costs for babies born with cerebral palsy due to medical failings.
The NHS has paid out for 22 of such cases, amounting to £53.1m in legal fees and damages in the last 17 years.
Stillbirth was the second highest figure at £4.6m, followed by successful claims of bowel damage (£3.4m), bladder damage (£2.2m) and fatality (£1.9m).
Another family which took legal action against NUH also described a lengthy and difficult battle for compensation.
Jack and Sarah Hawkins’ daughter, Harriet, died hours before she was delivered in April 2016 due to mistakes made at both the QMC and City hospitals.
Hospital bosses initially found “no obvious fault” and the couple were told their child had died of an infection.
“It took the hospital a very long time. Way longer than safe to do a proper investigation,” said Dr Hawkins, who worked as a consultant at the trust.
Refusing to accept the NUH findings, the couple launched their own investigation – which identified 13 failings in care and determined Harriet’s death was “almost certainly preventable”.
The death of Dr Hawkins’ daughter was one of the cases that prompted the review of maternity services
Legal experts say the number of payouts at the trust suggests that not enough is being done to tackle the underlying causes of medical errors.
Solicitor Tami Frenkel, who specialises in clinical negligence cases, believes that hospital trusts should put more resources into learning from their mistakes.
“[Hospital staff] do a hard job, sometimes in really difficult circumstances,” she said.
“But they are the ones relied on, and if they get it wrong, and the implications for someone are as awful as they can be, then it is only right compensation is paid.
“That is all missed opportunities – and opportunities that should not have been missed.”
“[The NHS] is a self-insurer, and it’s the same as any insurer. Why don’t they put their money into learning and prevention, instead of into having to pay people for injuries caused time and time again?”
Solicitor Natalie Cosgrove says more families are coming forward
Natalie Cosgrove, a partner at Ashtons Legal, has represented more than 20 families who say they have been affected by maternity failings.
She said she was contacted by more claimants “week on week”.
“I have spoken to over 100 families, I have been representing families in Nottingham,” she said. “And so I can’t imagine this figure is going to diminish for their compensation.”
Ms Cosgrove said people should be able to go into hospital and come back home with a happy, healthy baby.
Donna Ockenden is examining cases at NUH going back at least 10 years
It is not clear how the amount of compensation paid between 2006 and 2023 compared to the trust’s overall maternity budget during that time. The BBC has asked for this information, but it has not yet been provided.
All this comes at a time when Nottingham’s maternity services are under intense scrutiny, with 1,800 families now involved in senior midwife Donna Ockenden’s review into the failings.
Analysis
By Rob Sissons, BBC East Midlands health correspondent
Suing the NHS when things go wrong can be a very lengthy, stressful and re-traumatising experience for families. It can be difficult to have successful psychological therapy with ongoing pressure of legal action.
Litigation can be a way of ultimately finding more answers, though families complain they can be met with denial and delay. Where babies are harmed because of clinical negligence, the projected payouts can appear very sizable to the layperson.
But the latest compensation figures obtained by the BBC show the financial price of getting things wrong.
Jane Williams, who is a partner and head of medical negligence at Freeths, says it seems “illogical” to reform the way compensation is awarded when the priority should be patient safety and learning. She also says the number of claims brought against the NHS represents only a fraction of the bigger picture, adding that the promotion of learning would reduce the need for compensation.
Maternity safety campaigners warn same problems keep occurring in the NHS despite scandals in Morecambe Bay, Shrewsbury and Telford, East Kent and now Nottingham. A group of harmed families warn nothing short of a national public inquiry is now needed to establish why things have been going so badly wrong, but crucially what more is required to put things right.
Anthony May, chief executive at NUH, said: “I am truly sorry to all those families affected by failures in our maternity services.
“When things go wrong, it is important that there are processes in place to examine what happened, to make improvements and to support those affected.
“While money will never make up for the pain caused, we know how important it is for those who make a claim that we respond properly and in a way that does not cause additional suffering”.
Sarah Carter is a health and wellness expert residing in the UK. With a background in healthcare, she offers evidence-based advice on fitness, nutrition, and mental well-being, promoting healthier living for readers.
