The ambulance service which operates in Swindon and Wiltshire paid out over £3 million in medical negligence claims last year, new figures have revealed.

In figures obtained via a Freedom of Information request made by LegalExpert.co.uk, the full amount of money paid out by South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust between July 2022 and July 2023 was £3,075,209.40.

This dwarfs the figure of £498,756 paid out by South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust.

The organisation, which is responsible for providing ambulance services for the NHS across South West England, dealt with 22 new potential medical negligence claims within this period.

In that year, the trust received a total of 454 complainants' contacts, totalling 624 areas of concern being cited as many complaints are multifaceted.

292 of the 624 areas of concern related to perceptions of poor/substandard clinical care.

Medical negligence occurs when a healthcare professional provides perceived substandard care to a patient that falls below the required and expected standard for which a patient may subsequently suffer unnecessary or avoidable harm.

Nick Banks, head of medical negligence at JF Law (which owns the Legal Expert brand), warned that the consequences for medical negligence can be “devastating”. 

He said: “As well as the obvious emotional impact, injuries and bereavements can cause a bigger financial impact than many households can bear, particularly in the current cost of living crisis, when many are already struggling to make ends meet.

“Whilst some people understandably worry that making a claim will affect front-line care, the reality is that hospitals and GPs are always insured against such claims. 

“As such, any damages owed are paid by the insurers, and do not affect the care other patients are receiving.”

South West Ambulance Service says the money paid out was for a wide range of claims, with a large proportion of the total settlement paid in this period falling from two historical, long-running claims, that were settled in this period but were lodged 12 years ago and seven years ago respectively. 

The Trust, which manages an average 2,650 patients on a daily basis, has further reiterated that patient safety is its priority and along with other trusts it regularly reviews its clinical practices to ensure it can learn and continue to improve the care that it provides. 

This comes after NHS Resolution, which handles medical negligence claims on behalf of NHS Trusts, revealed that negligence payments had risen by 9.9 per cent from 2021/22 to 2022/23.