NHS Tayside has paid more than £120,000 over the past two years to staff who have been injured at work.
The cash-strapped health board shelled out on 29 claims in 2017 and 2018 for injuries resulting from assaults from patients, slips and falls and even exposure to toxic substances.
The health board paid out £74,861 to staff in 2018, an increase of £27,911 against 2017’s £46,950.
Conservative MSP Bill Bowman said the figures showed a worrying lack of resources to prevent accidents.
An NHS spokeswoman said cases could take varying times to come to a conclusion so it was not necessarily the case that there were more accidents last year compared to 2017.
The highest cause of compensation claims since 2016 is staff being exposed to harmful substances.
The level peaked in 2017 with 10 cases. In total there have been 23 cases in the last three years.
Claims were also made by people who had become stuck and trapped or had suffered slips, trips and falls.
Not all claims resulted in a compensation payment. In 2017, 14 cases were settled and in 2018 it was 15.
North East region MSP Bill Bowman said: “Working in today’s NHS can be intensely physical.
“We know that there is a staffing crisis and fewer employees are being asked to do more.
“Many of these incidents can’t be helped, but they are all potentially costly. And when it comes to slips, trips and falls, corners can’t be cut.”
A NHS Tayside spokeswoman said: “NHS Tayside takes the health and safety of our staff very seriously, and policies developed with our trade unions are in place to ensure our staff can be confident in raising any issues for attention.
“Only in a small number of cases, and where identified as appropriate, is a compensation payment made.
“There is no direct relationship between the number of claims and the value of payments, as a small number of high value claims in any given year can increase costs compared with the previous year.
“The reported settlements may not relate to incidents incurred in these particular years as cases can take several years to settle.”
The Scottish Government said it was up to NHS Tayside to ensure funding was appropriately allocated.
