THE NHS spent more in negligence payouts for Oxfordshire’s hospitals than anywhere else in England last year, new figures show.

Some £13m was paid out to patients of Oxford Radcliffe Hospitals NHS Trust for clinical negligence and this rose to £15.3m including legal costs.

The £13m is the highest ever under the “clinical negligence” system set up in 2003, when the payout was £1.7m. It is not known how many cases it relates to.

Oxfordshire watchdog chief Dr Peter Skolar said: “That is an enormous amount of money.

“It is money the NHS should be using for treating patients.”

The ex-GP, a Conservative Oxfordshire County Council member who chairs the county’s joint health overview and scrutiny committee, blamed a “compensation culture”.

He said: “If there is negligence they should be compensated but we are going too far the other way.”

But solicitors said the rising cost of care led to higher payouts.

Sue Jarvis, of Blake Lapthorn, Oxford, said few people wanted to take legal action when she started practicing in 1988 as they felt doctors were “trying their hardest”.

She said: “Now they are more inclined to come because the public purse is very restricted and there isn’t as much care about. The cost has gone up phenomenally.”

Richard Money-Kyrle, a partner at Darbys solicitors, said birth errors that caused cerebral palsy were common payouts.

Richard Coleman, a solicitor at Withy King, said rising wages for carers were inflating payouts.

He said: “All these cases are avoidable. What would help in the long run is to spend that money to employ more doctors and nurses.

“It would cost more initially but I am convinced it would lead to better patient safety and drive down the number of claims.”

The rise of “no win, no fee” deals had boosted claims, he said, but warned reforms to success fees would see lower-value cases not taken up.

Changes would see claimants, not defendants, pay the success fee.

The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) said this would cut costs and makes the system fairer by claimants having a “financial interest” in their case, encouraging them to settle out of court.

The Government is also proposing to end legal aid for most clinical negligence cases, a move criticised by Action Against Medical Accidents chief executive Peter Walsh.

He said: “By definition, these are so perfectly avoidable they meet the very strict test of negligence.

“Many more incidents take place that cause harm than are reflected in the numbers.”

The MoJ said legal aid would be available for the “most serious and complex cases”.

A trust spokesman said the figures often related to incidents that happened several years before, large claims could distort payouts and added it was one of England’s biggest trusts.

She said: “Any error is regrettable and we always strive to provide the best, safest care possible.”

The trust does not pay the money out directly but makes annual contributions to the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA), which then handles claims.

These have risen from £6.7m in 2005/06 to £13.2m last year. The trust said this was not related to how much is paid out on its behalf but its size and services offered.

The number of cases received each year against the trust has fluctuated from 15 in 2003/04 and 36, 35, 72, 36, 35, 51 and 59 in subsequent years, but these do not always result in a payout. The NHSLA refused to say how many claims the £13m related to because of patient confidentiality.

The figures also show payouts for non-clinical incidents such as slips, trips and thefts was £2,157,792, including legal costs.

The trusts’s 2008/09 payout of £10.5m was also the highest in England. The NHSLA said the cash could include new lump sum settlements but also ongoing annual payments from previous claims.

oevans@oxfordmail.co.uk