NHS England paying out nearly FIVE TIMES as much for medical negligence as NHS Scotland because of this

Professor John Robertson OBA

Thanks to Dottie for alerting me to this.

In the Guardian today:

The NHS’s total liabilities for medical negligence have hit an “astounding” £58.2bn amid ministers’ failure to improve patient safety, an influential group of MPs have warned.

The PAC urged ministers to take urgent steps to reduce “tragic incidences of patient harm” and to also end a situation where lawyers take an “astronomical” 19% of the compensation awarded to those who are successful in suing the NHS. That amounted to £536m of the £2.8bn that the health service in England paid out in damages in 2023-24 – its record bill for mistakes.

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/may/14/nhs-medical-negligence-liabilities-hit-582bn-amid-calls-to-improve-patient-safety

And in Scotland?

£47 326 855 in 2023-2024: https://resolution.nhs.uk/resources/annual-statistics/

So, all things being equal, with 10 times the population, you’d expect NHS England to be paying out around £480 million but they paid out £2.8 billion, pushing 5 times as much!

Wonder why? This:

Scotland has been putting patient safety first since 2007 and former Labour or Tory Health Secretaries could have copied us but didn’t

2 thoughts on “NHS England paying out nearly FIVE TIMES as much for medical negligence as NHS Scotland because of this”

  1. Thanks for the information and the link!

    Also mentioned in The Guardian article.

    “In its analysis of the DHSC’s annual report and accounts for 2023-24, the PAC also revealed the cost of building long-planned new high containment labs in Harlow, Essex, to help protect the UK against infectious diseases, had spiralled from £530m to “an eye-watering projected £3.2bn”. “

    According to Google AI. 👇

    “The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is facing significant delays and cost overruns for its new national health security campus in Harlow, Essex. The project, initially estimated at £530 million and expected to open in 2020, has seen its cost escalate to £3.2 billion and a projected opening date of 2036 at the earliest. This represents a 15-year delay and a six-fold increase in cost. The treasury has indicated it is only willing to fund up to £2 billion, potentially jeopardizing the project’s completion. The planned campus was intended to replace laboratories at Porton Down and Colindale and study pathogens like COVID and Ebola.”

    Why is this not a national scandal?

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply
  2. Pingback: Lisa Summers asks ‘How does Starmer’s NHS plan compare to Scotland?’ before completely ignoring the facts – Talking-up Scotland [Collective]

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