A total of £28 million has been paid out in childbirth and maternity medical negligence claims from Dorset NHS trusts over a four-year period, findings reveal. 

Dorset County Hospital Trust has paid out £16m in damages, while University Hospitals Dorset paid £12m - not including legal costs.

NHS Resolution released the data following a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by law firm Legal Expert. 

It revealed that between April 2019 and April 2023, a total of 50 childbirth and maternity clinical negligence claims and incidents were reported against the trusts to NHS Resolution, which handles negligence cases on behalf of the health service.

The leading cause of negligence according to the claims and incidents reported include a failure or delay in treatment and diagnosis as well as failure to respond to an abnormal fetal heart rate. 

Dorset County Hospital Dorset County Hospital (Image: Google Maps)

This comes after a report from the Care Quality Commission (CQC) found that improvements were needed in the maternity services at Dorset County Hospital. 

READ MORE: DCH maternity services 'requires improvement' according to CQC report

Responding to these findings, Jo Howarth, director of nursing at Dorset County Hospital, said: “We recognise the devastating impact on families when a mother or baby comes to harm or their experiences fall short of the standards expected.”

“We are truly sorry and extend our apologies to all those affected. We are committed to learning when things go wrong and will continue to strive for the highest standards of maternity and postnatal care.

"We are committed to ensuring that we have the right processes in place and take appropriate action and do all we can to continuously improve the safety and experience of maternity care at Dorset County Hospital."

Sarah Herbert, chief nursing officer, University Hospitals Dorset, said: “We deeply regret the instances when our quality of care falls below expectations and extend our sincerest apologies to all affected families.

“We are committed to thoroughly investigating every time something doesn’t go right.

“By continuously improving our services, and preventing future failings through enhanced training, facility upgrades, and refining protocols we ensure the highest standards of care in our childbirth and maternity services.”

Across the NHS, there have been 484 claims and incidents relating to babies with brain damage and 342 relating to mother or baby deaths in the last four years.

Of those claims settled, £980 million was spent on compensation for cerebral palsy-related claims and a further £600 million was paid out for claims pertaining to brain damage caused by obstetric negligence. 

Obstetric figures obtained by Legal Expert revealed that a total of 37 claims have been closed or settled by the trusts between 2019 and 2023. In the same period, the NHS Trusts paid a combined total of £27,928,712 in compensation alone. 

The research was conducted in the wake of the UK’s first-ever parliamentary inquiry into birth trauma earlier this year which heard harrowing evidence from 1,300 women. 

Some said they were left in blood-soaked sheets while others said their children had suffered life-changing injuries due to medical negligence.