More than £2.3m has been paid out in Lincolnshire for damages relating to claims of medical negligence relating to gynaecology.
The figures also revealed that the Lincolnshire NHS Trust has had 41 claims and incidents of medical negligence in the field since 2019.
The Trust operates Pilgrim Hospital, in Boston, along with others in Louth, Grantham and Lincoln.
The data also shows that the Queen Elizabeth Hospital’s trust in King’s Lynn had eight claims over the same period and paid out £203,000.
Details of the claims have come from a company which pursues claims on behalf of patients. It says that the Lincolnshire Trust figures come from NHS Resolution, the legal arm of the health service.
“Since 2019 the Lincolnshire Trust has settled a total of 32 gynaecology negligence claims which have been lodged in the last five years,” says the company, Medical Negligence Assist.
Of the 118 NHS trusts in the country, Lincolnshire ranks 17th for the highest amount of damages paid out over the last five years, the report says. Nationally 3,739 gynaecology medical negligence claims totalling £17.3m have been paid out. But the cost of claims lodged for failure and delays in gynaecology-related diagnosis have cost the health service £32.6m across the five years.
“In the last five years there have been 384 claims and incidents pertaining to failure and delayed diagnosis in gynaecology.”
A recent report from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) revealed women are being left in pain for years, with 760,000 on the waiting list for appointments due to a ‘crisis’ in the speciality.
“A way forward is urgently needed to tackle the UK gynaecology crisis,” said President of the RCOG Dr Ranee Thakar.
The RCOG report adds: “Gynaecology has historically been perceived as less important in wider elective recovery, and this has resulted in an increasing number of complex cases, disease progression, emergency admissions and women living in pain and distress: all of which are preventable.”
The Voice approached the Lincolnshire NHS Trust for comment, but it was unable to respond before we went to press.
