Clinical negligence costs Southern Health Trust £7.3m in past year
A senior Southern HSC Trust officer has revealed that clinical negligence cases accounted for 78 per cent of overall losses in the financial year ending March 31.
Presenting her annual Statement of Losses and Special Payments for the year ending on March 31, at a recent board meeting of the Southern HSC Trust, executive director of Finance, Procurement & Estates, Catherine Teggart stated: “The losses totalled £9.3m at the end of the last financial year, and that was a positive decrease on the previous year by £2m, or 18 per cent.
“The losses have been reviewed by the Audit and Risk Committee, and have been audited by the Northern Ireland Audit Office.
“The largest area of our losses is clinical negligence at £7.3m. The clinical negligence reflects 78 per cent of the losses.
“The next two highest areas were employer’s liability and employment law, with losses of £593,000 and £730,000 respectively, and that was actually an increase on last year.
“And it’s good also to see a decrease in the losses in our stores. That is in relation to discontinuing our pharmacy stock, and we’ve seen a decrease in that in comparison to last year.
“That’s the key points to highlight in relation to this year’s losses.”