NHS Fife has been hit with £17 million in negligence claims almost a third of them lodged by their own staff.
According to the latest figures, NHS Fife is facing 77 claims of medical negligence, including one resulting in birth defect.
A staggering 31 cases of liability were also lodged by NHS Fife staff, seven of whom are claiming compensation after alleged assaults by patients.
Fife’s rise in claims, revealed in a Freedom of Information request, mirrors other boards across the country a trend critics suspect is linked with cutbacks and staff shortages in hospitals.
However, a source with senior experience in NHS Fife reportedly believed “ambulance-chasing lawyers” were contributing to the issue.
The list of active cases revealed six writs involving injury or damage caused during surgical procedure and 10 alleged a failure to obtain informed consent from patients.
A further 10 involved a failure to diagnose or a delay in diagnosis, seven cases referred to failure or delay in treatment, four cases of medication errors and four failures to X-ray.
There were also two cases of surgical material being left in a patient’s body.
The vast majority of claimants, 53 of 77, were women and six cases specifically dealt with maternity issues. Three of these were failure to respond timely to abnormal foetal heart rate, two involved problems with a forceps delivery and one case resulted in birth defect.
In response, MP Alex Rowley, who has been campaigning for a review of health and social services in Fife, said: “I’m really concerned, yet I’m also not surprised, given the number of cases I have taken up on behalf of people where they’ve had a poor experience with NHS Fife.
“I’m due to meet with the health secretary at the beginning of next month and I’m going to be raising my concerns with her.”
Earlier this week, the health secretary announced a £7 million fund over three years to help Fife’s bed-blocking crisis.