Hospitals have paid out more than £3m in damages for gynaecology medical negligence claims in the last five years, a new investigation has revealed. Women have been left in ‘debilitating’ pain after incidents at UHCW in Coventry and the Hospital of St Cross in Warwickshire.
Data obtained by Medical Negligence Assist revealed the UHCW NHS Trust, which runs University Hospital Coventry in Walsgrave and the Hospital of St Cross in Rugby, reportedly had 25 incidents of gynaecology-related medical negligence reported since 2019.
Research from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) recently revealed that women have been left in ‘debilitating’ pain for years, with more than 760,000 on the waiting list for appointments in what has been dubbed a gynaecology care ‘crisis.’
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Since 2019, the UHCW NHS Trust has settled 13 gynaecology negligence claims lodged against it, with damages amounting to £3,154,083. Patients had claimed for reasons including intraoperative problems, failing to act on abnormal test results, and failed sterilisation, Medical Negligence Assist said.
Across the UK, 3,739 gynaecology medical negligence incidents have been reported since 2019. Of those, 1,337 claims were made by women for ‘unnecessary pain’ as well as a further 740 for ‘additional or unnecessary operations.’
Claims lodged against the NHS for failure and delays in gynaecology-related diagnosis are said to have amounted to £32.6m. PM Keir Starmer has been urged to provide support for those on waiting lists and commit to long-term funding to tackle the ‘systemic issues’ fuelling delays in the West Midlands.
Dr Ranee Thakar, President of the RCOG, said: “A way forward is urgently needed to tackle the UK gynaecology crisis. NHS staff are also deeply concerned and distressed that they do not have the necessary resources to deliver good care, affecting their own well-being.”
She added: “We are calling on Keir Starmer to commit to long-term, sustained funding to address the systemic issues driving waiting lists, alongside delivering an urgent support package for those currently on waiting lists. Investment will not only benefit thousands of individual women but the wider economy too because the evidence shows that healthy women are the cornerstone of healthy societies.”
In a statement to CoventryLive, University Hospitals Coventry and Warwickshire NHS Trust said: “We always aim to deliver the highest possible standards of care for our patients. On the rare occasions that things go wrong, we do everything we can to understand what happened, to learn lessons and make improvements, and to support those affected.”
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