NHS hospitals failures increase insurance premiums
10/01/12: The Sunday Express has reported that hospital insurance costs in the UK are on the rise due to incidences such as leaving behind surgical tools and operating on the wrong area of the body.
Compensation costs for hospitals in 2011 reached almost £4 million resulting from complications occurring after surgery and injuries sustained in hospital, amongst other factors, the figures reported.
One authority, the NHS Trust in Tameside exceeded its usual £2.7 million insurance premium by 10% due to a multitude of expensive compensation claims. The hospital has defended these figures by claiming a lack of staff, funds, and equipment is to blame for the £20 million of compensation the hospital has paid out in the last three years.
The Express has reported that the number of complications after surgery reached 14,000 cases in 2011, and this has included 57 events where the wrong area was operated on and 125 instances where foreign objects were not removed from the patient’s body.
Increasing mortality rates are also to blame as they have cost hospitals a total of £3.9 million in 2011.
A number of hospitals have hit back at the figures by claiming that they don’t show an accurate view of the patient care given at the hospitals.
The Tameside Hospital was given the highest rating available by the NHS Litigation Authority recently which has led to a spokesman claiming they have improved the quality of care given to patients.
The University Hospital of North Staffordshire also claimed that they believed that their hospital offer safe patient care. Blackpool Hospitals NHS Trust and Dartford and Gravesham hospital criticised the figures by claiming they were not giving an accurate reflection of the hospital itself. And Hull and East Yorkshire Hospitals spoke out by saying that they had now improved their level of care so the hospital was safe for all patients whilst the quality of care given at the hospital has been monitored, the NHS Isle of Wight stated.
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