Greater Manchester hospitals paid out more than £181m to families as 'time and again, the same mistakes are made'

NHS hospitals in Greater Manchester have paid out more than £181m in damages over cerebral palsy claims in the last 11 years. The figures come as one of the region’s hospital trusts will pay out nearly £30m after ‘accepting their negligence led to a baby girl suffering catastrophic injuries’ in court last week, according to a family’s lawyers.

The £30m case against Stockport NHS Foundation Trust is the ‘second largest settlement the NHS has ever made in a medical negligence case’, it is claimed. The baby girl was born ‘seemingly healthy’, said the legal representatives, but ‘shortly after birth there were signs that she was in distress’.

Due to a ‘series of negligent omissions in her postnatal care and ultimately the delay in performing surgery, she sustained catastrophic and life-changing injuries in the form of cerebral palsy’, the legal representatives for the baby girl and her family claim. The hospital trust has expressed its ‘sincere apologies’ to the family.

READ MORE: Almost £30m to be paid to baby's family by Greater Manchester hospital trust after 'negligence' caused 'life-changing injuries'

With no cure, cerebral palsy is a lifelong condition that affects movement and co-ordination. Those living with the condition may face movement, walking and speech difficulties, learning disabilities, cognitive impairments, hearing or vision loss, epilepsy, spinal deformities, and joint problems – requiring ongoing physiotherapy, speech therapy, occupational therapy and medication.

Neil Clayton, medical negligence partner at Lime Solicitors, said: “One of the main causes of cerebral palsy is hypoxic brain injury during childbirth, which is where a baby’s brain gets starved of oxygen. Sometimes, this cannot be prevented or it is impossible to work out what caused the child’s injuries. However, negligent mistakes by healthcare professionals can lead to a child sustaining a hypoxic brain injury.

“Errors can include delayed delivery, birth injuries, failing to respond to the umbilical cord being wrapped around a baby’s neck, and missing signs of fetal distress, such as meconium. The regularity of maternity ward scandals in the press is alarming, yet wholly unsurprising; negligent injuries resulting in cerebral palsy should not take place and we know the lessons that should have been learned, but unfortunately time and time again, the same mistakes are made.”

Freedom of Information request data has shown that five NHS trusts, which operate hospitals across Greater Manchester, settled a total of 80 clinical negligence claims relating to cerebral palsy. The Greater Manchester trusts have paid out £181,383,412 in damages, an average of £2.2m per case, and £29.5m in legal fees over the last 11 years.

Nationally, trusts across the country paid out a total of £3.5bn in damages across 1,307 clinical negligence cases, and £490m in legal fees from 2012/13 to 2022/23.

Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary, paid out £16.2m in damages for eight cases. Bolton NHS Foundation Trust, running the Royal Bolton Hospital, paid out £24.6m to 12 claims.

Stockport NHS Foundation Trust paid out on nine claims from 2012/13 to 2022/23, totalling £35.6m in damages. Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Rochdale Infirmary, Salford Royal, Fairfield General, and the Royal Oldham hospitals, paid out £41.9m in 19 cases.

Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust (MFT) operates North Manchester General Hospital, Manchester Royal Infirmary, Trafford General Hospital, and the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital – as well as Saint Mary’s Hospital. Saint Mary’s Hospital is a specialised maternity hospital which, along with its capacity of more routine pregnancies, treats the most complex and risky pregnancies and births across the north west. MFT paid out £62.9m in damages across 32 cases over 11 years. It’s the sixth highest figure for any trust in the country, with the most damages being paid by Barts Health NHS Trust, running five hospitals in London, which paid £117m across 36 cases.

Mandy Philbin, Chief Nursing Officer for NHS Greater Manchester said: “Patient safety and maintaining the highest quality of care is the main priority for both NHS Greater Manchester and hospital Trusts.

“Any occasion where a patient experiences harm is of profound concern. We know there is more we need to do in partnership to improve care before, during and after birth to prevent injuries occurring.

“In recent years, we have made significant strides in improving safety and reducing the number of babies born with brain injuries, by working hard with our maternity providers to implement the national Saving Babies’ Lives Care Bundle.

“The bundle aims to make care safer for women giving birth and babies through six key areas to reduce risks during pregnancy and birth, including better fetal monitoring during labour and raising awareness of reduced fetal movement.”

NHS Greater Manchester explains that the Saving Babies' Lives Care Bundle is a series of measures designed to reduce smoking pregnancy to increase the chances of a healthy pregnancy and birth, close monitoring those at high risk of problems leading to stillbirth, raising awareness of reduced fetal movement, effective fetal monitoring during labour, reducing pre-term birth, and management of pre-exisiting diabetes.

Since the introduction of the Saving Babies’ Lives Care Bundle in 2015, the number of babies born with brain injuries has reduced from 45 in 2015 to 19 in 2023, the region's NHS body added.

Stockport NHS Foundation Trust, which runs Stepping Hill Hospital, is to pay out £29.3m, after a settlement was approved at the High Court in London last week. The pay out is to be satisfied on a lump sum basis and with annual payments for all care and case management costs.

The trust ‘admitted breach of duty and causation, which together amount to a full admission of liability’, say Nockolds Solicitors and lawyers from Exchange Chambers, which represented the baby girl and her family. The trust has expressed its ‘sincere apologies to the family’, adding that ‘in the years that have passed since this took place, [they] have made many improvements to ensure the highest care is delivered to everyone’.

The impact on the whole family has been ‘devastating’ amid the ‘irreversible damages’, according to the legal team acting for the baby and her family, as the ‘young girl’s life has changed forever’. “They waited a number of years for Stockport NHS Foundation Trust to admit liability and faced the prospect of a trial at court until we finally reached a settlement,” added a barrister.

The precise terms of the settlement are the subject of an anonymity order. A spokesperson for Stockport NHS Foundation Trust responded to the claims and the settlement, saying the trust does not dispute the information shared by the legal representatives.

The trust said: “We are pleased that this settlement has been reached and approved by the court. We express once more our sincere apologies to the family and wish them the very best for the future. The good care and safety of patients is our top priority, and in the years that have passed since this took place, we have made many improvements to ensure the highest quality care is delivered to everyone.

“We hope that the settlement will provide the family with some comfort and reassurance for the future and will help with the care and other support that they need.”

The girl and her family were represented by solicitor Yasmin Ameer from Nockolds Solicitors and barristers Bill Braithwaite KC, who said: “This young girl’s life has changed forever and the impact on the whole family has been devastating. They waited a number of years for Stockport NHS Foundation Trust to admit liability and faced the prospect of a trial at court until we finally reached a settlement. Justice has now been done and they can finally look to the future knowing her lifelong needs are provided for.”