The north’s health trusts have spent almost £185 million from the public purse in payouts for medical or professional negligence in recent years.
In total, Northern Ireland’s five health trusts spent £184.8 million in out-of-court settlements for medical or professional negligence between 2010/11 and 2024/25.
The lion’s share of the payouts came from the Belfast Health and Social Care Trust, which racked up a bill of £81,257,000 over the 15 year period.
The trust spent £10.57 million on settlements in 2024/25 alone.
The trust was also forced to pay out £9.22 million in 2013/14 and faced a £7.74 million bill for negligence settlements in 2010/11.
Two other years—2012/13 and 2015/16—saw the trust make payments of over 5 million in a single 12-month period.
The trust with the next highest payment total was the Northern Health and Social Care Trust, which has paid a total of £29.51 million in settlements for professional or medical negligence over a 15-year period.
This includes a £6.65 million bill in the most recent 2024/25 year.
Meanwhile, the Northern Trust also paid out almost £4 million in out-of-court negligence settlements in each of the two previous years.
Significant amounts were also paid out by the trust in 2011/12 (£2.06 million), 2012/13 (£1.92 million), 2013/14 (£1.47 million), 2014/15 (£1.58 million), 2015/16 (£1.83 million), and 2016/17 (£2.39 million).
The Southern Health and Social Care Trust paid out £31.5 million in out-of-court settlements between 2010 and 2025 according to the figures.
This includes a £10.2 million bill in the most recent 2023/24 year.
Meanwhile, the same trust also paid out substantial amounts in the two years prior—£3.22 million in 2021/22 and £1.17 million in 2020/21.
Payments of over £1 million were also paid out by the Southern Trust in 2013/14 (£1.15 million), 2014/15 (£2.32 million), 2016/17 (£1.15 million), 2017/18 (£2.42 million), and 2019/20 (£1.72 million).
The Western Health and Social Care Trust has paid a total of £28.89 million in out-of-court settlements over the same time period.
The largest totals among these are £7.24 million in 2013/14 and £3.67 million in 2022/23.
However, last year’s total in settlements for the Western Trust topped £1.3 million.
The trust with the lowest total amount of payouts was the South Eastern Health and Social Care Trust, which has settled to the tune of £13.22 million for out-of-court settlements for medical or professional negligence.
However, data prior to 2019 is limited for this trust due to a new claims management system, so the available statistics are only available for the past six years.
Meanwhile the Northern Ireland Ambulance Service (NIAS) spent £422,000 on out-of-court negligence settlements over the 15-year period.
The figures follow an Assembly Question by the Alliance party’s Strangford MLA, Kellie Armstrong.
Speaking to the Irish News, Ms Armstrong said: “It is very concerning that such a large amount of money is being spent each year by our Health and Social Care Trusts on out-of-court settlements, funds that could be put to much better use. This figure is astonishing, especially given the current budgetary context.
“We often hear the health minister express concerns about budgetary pressures, yet this reflects the true reality within our health system.
“The Department of Health receives more than half of our devolved budget, and the minister is responsible for ensuring every penny within the service is best spent.
“Hundreds of millions are being wasted on a failing system, with pressures increasing year on year, and Alliance has consistently called for the reform of our services. It’s time for the minister to take tough decisions and adopt a firmer stance on calls for transformation.”
A Department of Health spokesperson said: “The Department continues to be mindful of the need to manage public money carefully, as we navigate the challenging financial environment we are facing. Clinical negligence payments relate to an area which is largely driven by legal process and where financial impacts are hard to predict.
“In addition, there was an effect of ‘catch-up’ from the delay to the number of cases that were fully processed and settled during Covid, resulting in an increasing number of settled claims each year.
“More generally, while recognising the inherent risks, it is clearly important for the HSC as a whole to continue to focus on safety and quality in order to reduce the number of claims overall and ensure better outcomes for patients.”
