Hospital Staff in £100,000 Payout

NEARLY £100,000 was paid out by Addenbrooke's Hospital to eight members of staff who lodged personal injury claims.

In total, at least £98,635 was paid in damages, claimants' costs and the hospital's own defence costs.

Yet just over £9,270 was paid out to 73 patients in non-clinical compensation cases in the same period.

Seven members of staff received damages in personal injury cases involving negligence on the part of the Cambridge hospital.

The largest payment was £9,990 to a staff member who acquired industrial dermatitis.

Another member of staff received £9,912.07 after injuring themselves helping a patient off the floor while a colleague was handed £6,872.60 for an injury sustained when lifting a bucket of urine.

Figures released to the News under the Freedom of Information Act revealed a total of £44,266.82 was paid to staff in personal injury damages between April 2004 and March 2005.

Addenbrooke's also paid the legal costs of the claimants - a total of at least £32,151.96 for the seven cases plus the eighth case in which no damages were paid.

The hospital's own defence costs amounted to £22,216.80. This compares to the £9,271.38 paid out to 73 patients in nonclinical compensation cases in 2004.

The money covered the loss of clothes, dentures and glasses, travelling expenses and damaged clothes.

Addenbrooke's, which employs more than 6,500 staff, said: "We do everything possible to protect staff from accidents and injury in the workplace. We provide good training and education in moving and handling techniques and accident prevention.

"We provide appropriate equipment to assist staff in their jobs and to minimise the risk of injuries - such as hoists for lifting patients in and out of beds. For an organisation the size of Addenbrooke's and the complex nature of our work, compensation claims from staff are low."

There is an ongoing debate about whether the UK is developing a "compensation culture".

David Arculus, chairman of the Government's Better Regulation Task Force, said last month that the number of successful claims was falling but he said there was a "compensation-seeking culture".

The Government unveiled a Compensation Bill in the Queen's Speech to discourage false perceptions that compensation is available for any untoward incident.

source: Cambridge Evening News (Last Updated: Monday, 06 June, 2005)

View more articles in our news archive >>