Monday, October 08, 2007

£665m payouts in birth errors

According to The Independent this morning:

The dangers of childbirth in the modern health service are highlighted today by figures showing that £665m has been paid out over the past three years to settle medical negligence claims where obstetric deliveries have gone catastrophically wrong.

The size of the payout – enough to hire 1,000 extra consultants – reflects the enormous and growing burden of medical negligence on the health service, which is diverting scarce resources from patient care.
If there was '24 hours to save the NHS' on 1 May 1997, then what have they been doing for the other 91,488 hours... and counting?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I am not at all surprised to hear this - I gather that the units are very understaffed. Also women who have given birth are sent home far too soon .....that can give rise to post natal depression and affect not only the health of the mother and the child but the whole family