Question reference: S3W-08840
- Asked by: Willie Coffey, MSP for Kilmarnock and Loudoun, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 24 January 2008
-
Current status: Answered by Nicola Sturgeon on 31 January 2008
Question
To ask the Scottish Executive how much compensation has been paid to patients by the NHS in each of the last 10 years, broken down by (a) NHS board and (b) basis of the claim.
Answer
No records are held centrally on compensation payments made to patients by NHSScotland other than inthe case of clinical negligence. The following sums were paid from 1997-98 to 2006-07in respect of clinical negligence claims made against health boards and specialhealth boards.
| Health Board | 1997-98 (£) | 1998-99 (£) | 1999-2000 (£) | 2000-01 (£) |
| Argyll and Clyde | 681,945 | 777,997 | 92,628 | 91,550 |
| Ayrshire and Arran | 25,000 | 191,630 | 40,000 | 158,263 |
| Borders | 0 | 45,000 | 69,500 | 12,500 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 63,000 | 103,622 | 133,614 | 407,500 |
| Fife | 106,313 | 71,588 | 45,900 | 280,647 |
| Forth Valley | 204,750 | 27,300 | 27,865 | 434,007 |
| Grampian | 67,400 | 59,281 | 405,383 | 186,061 |
| Greater Glasgow | 1,272,360 | 327,700 | 498,733 | 981,944 |
| Highland | 415,200 | 55,500 | 269,745 | 40,600 |
| Lanarkshire | 78,650 | 84,300 | 99,698 | 746,336 |
| Lothian | 337,109 | 1,412,009 | 906,627 | 252,962 |
| Orkney | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Shetland | 57,702 | 0 | 2,664 | 2,550 |
| Tayside | 210,770 | 147,782 | 251,000 | 225,552 |
| Western Isles | 0 | 0 | 30,000 | 104,990 |
| State Hospital | 1,000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Common Services Agency | 0 | 0 | 82,000 | 0 |
| Scottish Ambulance Service | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 3,521,199 | 3,303,709 | 2,955,357 | 3,925,462 |
| Health Board | 2001-02 (£) | 2002-03 (£) | 2003-04 (£) | 2004-05 (£) |
| Argyll and Clyde | 265,519 | 2,558,831 | 270,041 | 1,219,640 |
| Ayrshire and Arran | 828,865 | 671,398 | 230,560 | 234,702 |
| Borders | 5,000 | 20,111 | 13,650 | 157,580 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 701,116 | 362,018 | 219,096 | 65,927 |
| Fife | 51,693 | 125,346 | 492,449 | 320,806 |
| Forth Valley | 292,525 | 112,954 | 2,518,400 | 553,359 |
| Grampian | 175,375 | 77,250 | 199,313 | 912,877 |
| Greater Glasgow | 2,894,856 | 2,078,799 | 1,419,508 | 1,441,834 |
| Highland | 220,276 | 197,581 | 1,324,739 | 159,490 |
| Lanarkshire | 51,480 | 406,282 | 569,846 | 275,250 |
| Lothian | 815,557 | 1,933,644 | 879,506 | 437,323 |
| Orkney | 5,500 | 0 | 0 | 29,120 |
| Shetland | 7,700 | 78,345 | 10,200 | 2,000 |
| Tayside | 138,353 | 98,150 | 105,163 | 2,460,004 |
| Western Isles | 5,500 | 0 | 0 | 1,500 |
| State Hospital | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Common Services Agency | 0 | 0 | 55,000 | 49,000 |
| Scottish Ambulance Service | 3,000 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 6,462,315 | 8,720,709 | 8,307,471 | 8,320,412 |
| Health Board | 2005-06 (£) | 2006-07 (£) |
| Argyll and Clyde | 1,274,634 | 27,500 |
| Ayrshire and Arran | 289,876 | 31,750 |
| Borders | 98,042 | 315,739 |
| Dumfries and Galloway | 318,079 | 104,353 |
| Fife | 210,623 | 1,724,014 |
| Forth Valley | 328,027 | 4,504,683 |
| Grampian | 600,359 | 195,238 |
| Greater Glasgow (and Clyde) | 3,133,521 | 5,382,415 |
| Highland | 1,814,121 | 2,459,120 |
| Lanarkshire | 359,219 | 504,762 |
| Lothian | 412,758 | 7,211,474 |
| Orkney | 22,792 | 0 |
| Shetland | 0 | 29,000 |
| Tayside | 742,911 | 692,234 |
| Western Isles | 6,000 | 0 |
| State Hospital | 27,488 | 0 |
| Common Services Agency | 126,651 | 375 |
| Scottish Ambulance Service | 92,166 | 4,000 |
| Total | 9,857,267 | 23,186,657 |
Although the tablesshow a rising trend in compensation payments, the number of claims is steady witharound 150 reaching settlement each year. The large increase in 2006-07 is consideredto be exceptional and caused by a larger than normal number of high-value settlements– mostly birth related cases which often take several years to settle.
Based on a populationcount, proportionally the amount of money paid out in Scotland on clinical negligence claims is far less than that in the rest of the UK.