§ NHS · TRUST

South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

NHS Trust · Clinical negligence claims data for 2024/25

Maternity TrustNorth EastTS4 3BWMember since 1995

Total paid 2024/25

£16.8M

Claims received

92

Avg cost per claim

£183K

Region rank

#4 / 11

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NHS Negligence Payouts Are at Record Levels

South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust received £16.8M in 2024/25, against a national total of £3.1B. NHS negligence payments have grown consistently over 19 years.

£581.7M
£639.2M
£737.2M
£790.3M
£882.0M
£1.3B
£1.3B
£1.2B
£1.2B
£1.5B
£1.7B
£2.2B
£2.4B
£2.3B
£2.2B
£2.4B
£2.6B
£2.8B
£3.1B
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024

This trust

£16.8M

92 claims in 2024/25

National total

£3.1B

All NHS trusts combined

This trust's share

0.55%

Of national negligence payments

What is an NHS Trust?

An NHS Trust is an organisational unit of the National Health Service that typically operates multiple hospitals, community clinics, and specialist services under one legal entity. All clinical negligence claims and payment figures on this page relate to the trust as a whole, not to any individual hospital or site.

Types of Clinical Negligence Claims

NHS negligence claims span 19 medical specialties. While trust-level data isn't broken down by specialty, these are the national figures for 2024/25 — ordered by total payments.

#1
Obstetrics CP/BD

cerebral palsy & brain damage — e.g. birth injuries causing permanent disability

£1.1B36.8%

Total payments

£1.1B

Claims settled

237

Avg per claim

£4.2M

View full obstetrics cp/bd statistics →
#2
Other

e.g. physiotherapy injuries, dietetics errors, pharmacy dispensing mistakes

£461.6M15.3%

Total payments

£461.6M

Claims settled

5,160

Avg per claim

£57K

View full other statistics →
#3
Emergency Medicine

e.g. misdiagnosis in A&E, delayed treatment, triage failures

£249.7M8.3%

Total payments

£249.7M

Claims settled

1,327

Avg per claim

£127K

View full emergency medicine statistics →
#4
Paediatrics

e.g. missed meningitis, delayed diagnosis, medication dosing errors

£210.8M7.0%

Total payments

£210.8M

Claims settled

229

Avg per claim

£757K

View full paediatrics statistics →
#5
Orthopaedic Surgery

e.g. failed joint replacements, fracture mismanagement, nerve damage

£178.6M5.9%

Total payments

£178.6M

Claims settled

1,101

Avg per claim

£100K

View full orthopaedic surgery statistics →
#6
Obstetrics Non CP/BD

other obstetric claims — e.g. surgical errors during delivery, maternal injuries

£176.0M5.8%

Total payments

£176.0M

Claims settled

1,016

Avg per claim

£108K

View full obstetrics non cp/bd statistics →
#7
General surgery
£104.1M3.4%

Total payments

£104.1M

Claims settled

0

Avg per claim

£0

View full general surgery statistics →
#8
Neurosurgery

e.g. spinal surgery errors, nerve damage, post-operative complications

£77.1M2.5%

Total payments

£77.1M

Claims settled

157

Avg per claim

£344K

View full neurosurgery statistics →
#9
Radiology

e.g. missed findings on scans, delayed cancer diagnosis, reporting errors

£71.9M2.4%

Total payments

£71.9M

Claims settled

460

Avg per claim

£95K

View full radiology statistics →
#10
Gynaecology

e.g. surgical complications, missed cancer diagnoses, fertility treatment errors

£67.0M2.2%

Total payments

£67.0M

Claims settled

626

Avg per claim

£55K

View full gynaecology statistics →
#11
General medicine
£64.8M2.1%

Total payments

£64.8M

Claims settled

0

Avg per claim

£0

View full general medicine statistics →
#12
Gastroenterology

e.g. missed bowel cancer, endoscopy perforations, delayed diagnosis

£41.5M1.4%

Total payments

£41.5M

Claims settled

326

Avg per claim

£79K

View full gastroenterology statistics →
#13
Ophthalmology

e.g. cataract surgery errors, missed glaucoma, delayed treatment

£37.1M1.2%

Total payments

£37.1M

Claims settled

258

Avg per claim

£84K

View full ophthalmology statistics →
#14
Neurology

e.g. missed stroke, delayed brain tumour diagnosis, epilepsy mismanagement

£37.0M1.2%

Total payments

£37.0M

Claims settled

127

Avg per claim

£211K

View full neurology statistics →
#15
Neonatology CP/BD

newborn cerebral palsy & brain damage — e.g. oxygen deprivation at birth

£31.0M1.0%

Total payments

£31.0M

Claims settled

11

Avg per claim

£2.5M

View full neonatology cp/bd statistics →
#16
Cardiology

e.g. missed heart attacks, stent complications, delayed diagnosis

£31.0M1.0%

Total payments

£31.0M

Claims settled

200

Avg per claim

£94K

View full cardiology statistics →
#17
Urology

e.g. delayed cancer diagnosis, surgical nerve damage, catheter injuries

£29.2M1.0%

Total payments

£29.2M

Claims settled

265

Avg per claim

£63K

View full urology statistics →
#18
Ambulance

e.g. delayed response, incorrect triage, treatment errors en route

£27.1M0.9%

Total payments

£27.1M

Claims settled

170

Avg per claim

£107K

View full ambulance statistics →
#19
Neonatology Non CP/BD

other newborn claims — e.g. infections, feeding injuries, delayed treatment

£16.0M0.5%

Total payments

£16.0M

Claims settled

43

Avg per claim

£317K

View full neonatology non cp/bd statistics →

Where the Money Goes

Of the £16.8M paid, 64% went directly to patients as compensation — the remainder covered legal costs on both sides.

Patient compensation£10.8M
NHS legal costs£1.1M
Claimant legal costs£4.9M

Average Cost Per Claim

How the average cost per claim at this trust compares to regional and national averages. Lower per-claim costs may reflect a different mix of claim types.

This trust

£183K

National average

£240K

-24%below national average

This trust

£183K

North East average

£240K

-24%below regional average

Maternity & Obstetric Claims

South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust provides maternity services. Obstetric claims account for 15% of this trust's total negligence payments — obstetric claims are tracked separately due to their typically much higher value.

Obstetric claims£2.6M
All other claims£14.2M

Obstetric claims

8

9% of all claims

Obstetric payments

£2.6M

15% of total paid

Avg per obstetric claim

£325K

View national maternity claims data →

§ PUBLISHED JUDGMENTS

Court judgments involving South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.

Published judgments of the courts of England and Wales naming this trust as defendant, linked to their source. Judgments are a small, unrepresentative slice of claims — most settle privately — and a judgment for the trust is as likely as one against it.

Claimant succeeded

Dakin v South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

[2026] EWCC 26·2026·Liability decided at trial

A theatre nurse with worsening palpitations saw a hospital physician who admittedly failed to arrange 24-hour ECG monitoring. The judge found monitoring would have caught her atrial fibrillation in time for anticoagulants to prevent the stroke she suffered.

Palpitations that keep coming back need proper heart-rhythm monitoring. Where a missed test would have led to blood-thinning treatment, a later stroke can be laid at the hospital's door.

Claim failed

Callaghan v South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

[2023] EWHC 1199 (KB)·2023·Liability decided at trial

A baby born at James Cook University Hospital was discharged two days after birth and died of GBS meningitis and sepsis. The judge found only one limited breach (a missing piece of discharge advice) and that it did not cause the death because the mother would not have returned to hospital in time.

Even where a hospital gets something wrong, the claim fails unless the mistake is shown to have changed what happened. Record-keeping failings alone did not establish causation here.

Claim failed

Shaw v South Tees Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust

[2019] EWHC 2280 (QB)·2019·Liability decided at trial

The mother argued the consultant should not have confidently reported a normal brain structure on the anomaly scan when the images were unclear. The judge accepted the consultant had scanned carefully and that a responsible body of specialists would have reached the same view, so negligence was not proved.

A missed abnormality on an antenatal scan is not automatically negligence; the claimant must show no responsible specialist would have reported as the clinician did. Careful, well-documented scanning is a strong defence.

Contains information licensed under the Open Justice - Licence v2.0. Judgments from Find Case Law, The National Archives. Summaries are ours; amounts only where printed in the judgment.

Source: NHS Resolution Annual Report and Accounts 2024/25. Data covers the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts (CNST), Existing Liabilities Scheme (ELS), and Risk Pooling Scheme for Trusts (RPST). This information is provided for educational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.