The NHS spent £2.7billion settling medical negligence claims for poor care last year – nearly 10% more than the previous 12 months. Daily Mail
Note that: up 10% on last year. This is the consequence of not having an adequate health service, underfunded, understaffed and not able to provide proper, safe care. I really feel for NHS workers at the minute and have to say I am SO glad I changed my mind about being a dietician or GP and became a sort of natural GP instead!
It’s a false economy, of course. If we had an efficient and working NHS, they wouldn’t need to be paying out billions in compensation. As with healthcare always, this is round the wrong way. Although I did whoop yesterday when I was watching the news and a minister actually said we need to put much more emphasis on preventative care. Of course, it’s just words, but I do live in hope. If we prevented a lot of illness, we wouldn’t be overburdening the poor NHS and other healthcare workers and it wouldn’t need constantly propping up.
I also note that 41% of those claims were for midwifery or maternity care. Up from 38% the previous year. It must be a service stretched to breaking point. Just so sad.