A £13.5 million legal bill at NHS Highland is among the largest in Scotland, second only to the scandal-hit Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
A total of 77 clinical claims were made by disgruntled NHS Highland patients in the five years leading up to June 2023, according to figures released under freedom of information laws.
Claims included problems with appointments, consent and confidentiality breaches, medication errors and patients who experienced incorrect or delayed diagnoses.
The total number of claims made against the health board each year has slowly declined, with 20 made in 2018 compared to 12 in 2022.
Highland claims decline but bill almost doubles
But despite the decreasing number the legal costs incurred by the health board have almost doubled, from £2.2m in 2018 to £4.36m in 2022.
In NHS Grampian, a total of 236 claims have been lodged against the health board.
Incorrect or delayed diagnoses accounted for 56 of the claims, while 39 related to a failure to recognise complications because of treatment.
Obstetric complaints accounted for 14 claims.
Unlike its Highland counterpart, the year bill for legal costs – which includes any settlement figure – has declined each year alongside the number of claims.
In 2022 the health board paid out £652,838 in legal costs, a vast reduction of the £5.96m bill in 2018.
A spokeswoman for NHS Grampian told The Press and Journal: “We respect the right of anyone unhappy with their care, or injured while on our sites, or in the course of their work, to seek legal redress.
“All claims are carefully considered and compensation paid where appropriate.”
The health board makes an annual contribution to the Clinical Negligence and Other Risk Indemnity Scheme, which covers the costs of any such claims.
Across Scotland, £61 million was spent on legal costs.
Scottish Conservative health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane MSP said: “My heart goes out to the patients and families who have suffered as a result of failings in Scotland’s NHS.
‘Buck stops with SNP’
“But the buck for this stops with a succession of SNP health secretaries – including Humza Yousaf and discredited Michael Matheson.
“These figures are a damning indictment of their dire workforce planning, which has left our health service woefully under-resourced.”
Dr Gulhane, an NHS GP, said staff were “dangerously overstretched”, which would lead to more mistakes.
He added: “Scotland’s NHS is lurching from crisis to crisis under SNP mismanagement – and Humza Yousaf’s flimsy recovery plan has failed to remobilise it.
“Ministers must match the Scottish Conservative plans for a modern, efficient and local health service.”
Conversation