A CLAIM by a patient of Royal Bournemouth Hospital who was left with “severely impaired” vision after an error during cataract surgery has been awarded £300,000 in an out-of-court settlement.

Detailed in a report to Wednesday’s meeting of Royal Bournemouth and Christchurch Hospitals trust’s board, the case was brought forward after the patient was given the wrong lens during the operation and was not informed of the treatment’s risks.

One other clinical negligence claim against the trust alleging nervous shock as a result of the premature delivery of their baby brother, his death 11 days later and funeral was defended at trial.

The report says: “There were 13 new requests [from April to June] for disclosure of records intimating that a clinical negligence claim is being considered.

“Nine new claims were received in the quarter and are under investigation.

“Reviewing data for the last five years approximately 50 per cent of disclosure requests will proceed to a claim.

“Work continues to improve the triangulation between complaints, adverse events and claims to ensure that claims should not arise in isolation.”

The claims can be made for a range of reasons resulting in someone suffering injury, including incorrect or failed diagnoses, mistakes during procedures, being given the wrong drug, not getting consent for treatment and not being warned about risks.

There are 82 active cases against the trust being processed which the sum of potential damages estimated as being just below £10m.

Just over half of claims over the last five years have been successfully defended, with the remaining 45.5 per cent settled.

Failures and delays in treatment and diagnosis and “inadequate nursing care” are listed as being the most common reasons for complaints.

Claims revolving around issues relating to surgical operations are identified as being the highest value on average.

Nationally, there was a sharp rise in the amount of money being paid out by NHS trusts as a result of clinical negligence claims.

Over the 2017/18 year, £2.23bn was awarded by trusts in the secondary care sector, compared to £1.71bn the previous year, according to a report published earlier this month by NHS Resolution - the organisation which manages claims.

The Department of Health and Social Care formed a working group to look at how to manage clinical negligence costs.