More than £11 million has been paid in compensation to Scottish patients whose cancer diagnosis was either delayed or made in error, it has emerged.
Health boards have paid dozens of people since 2019/20 following mistakes in relation to oncology.
The total of £11,442,443 relates to people whose cancer diagnosis was delayed, or cancer patients who received a misdiagnosis.
Most health boards don’t reveal the exact number of patients who received payments for confidentiality reasons, although at least 49 separate settlements were made across the last five years.
NHS Lothian paid out the largest amount in Scotland, with almost £5 million in compensation going to patients and their families.
The statistics were obtained by Scotland in Union through Freedom of Information.
The true figure is likely even higher as one of Scotland’s major health boards – NHS Tayside – refused to disclose its figures.
Alastair Cameron, chair of Scotland in Union, said:
“Every instance of compensation being paid to cancer patients reveals a story of personal tragedy and heartbreak.
“Everyone understands that in an organisation the size of the NHS there will always be cases where mistakes are made. But the fact more than £11 million has been paid out in the last five years illustrates the scale of the problem.
“NHS staff and patients have repeatedly warned that the health service in Scotland is on its knees. That so much has been paid out following misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis in cancer care should be a wake-up call to this Scottish Government.
“It’s time for ministers to focus more sharply on people’s priorities, including our NHS.”
Below is the amount of money paid out by health boards since 2019/20 to patients following cancer misdiagnosis, or a delay in cancer diagnosis:
NHS Ayrshire and Arran - £694,500
NHS Borders - £145,000
NHS Dumfries and Galloway - £125,500
NHS Fife - £251,000
NHS Forth Valley – £545,250
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde - £2,832,903
NHS Grampian - £1,125,159
NHS Highland - £450,000
NHS Lanarkshire - £528,500
NHS Lothian - £4,694,631
NHS Orkney - £50,000
NHS Shetland – Zero
NHS Tayside – Refused to disclose
NHS Western Isles – Zero
Total - £11,442,443
This story was picked up by the Daily Record, see here.
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