Bedfordshire Hospital Trust pays out £20m in compensation for children’s medical negligence claims since 2019

Figures from Medical Negligence Assist shows that Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust has had a total of 61 claims and incidents of children’s medical negligence reported to NHS Resolution - the NHS’s legal arm since 2019.

The Trust, which runs Bedford Hospital and Luton and Dunstable University Hospital, has settled 29 claims with damages coming to £20,282,094 – not including NHS or claimant legal costs.

Bedfordshire Hospitals NHS Trust was approached for comment, but did not respond in time for our deadline.

Medical Negligence Assist investigated the number of medical negligence claims relating to children aged between zero and 17 lodged against NHS Trusts in the last five years.

It revealed that across the NHS, 6,536 children’s clinical negligence claims and incidents have been reported to NHS Resolution since 2019.

Of those, 1,491 were made for failure or delays in treatment as well as 1,079 for failure of delays in diagnosis.