Cornwall hospital pays out £17m to five families after medical negligence

The worst hospital trust in the country paid out more than £51m to 10 families

The NHS trust running Cornwall's largest hospital has paid out more than £17million in compensation to five families in just three years, it can be revealed. The Royal Cornwall Hospitals Trust, which runs the Royal Cornwall Hospital at Treliske in Truro, St Michael's Hospital in Hayle and West Cornwall Hospital in Penzance, made the payments in compensation in medical negligence claims for cerebral palsy after the families involved alleged that medical negligence caused the life-changing condition.

Compensation claim experts Medical Negligence Assist revealed the compensation payment made by NHS hospital trusts in England and Wales between 2022 and the end of March 2025. It said RCHT paid out a total of £17,495,023 - or £3.5m per case - which then goes up to £20.3m when legal fees are factored in.

Cerebral palsy is a brain condition typically caused by complications while a baby is in the womb or during birth. There is no cure and it can have such effects as delayed development, physical weakness and learning disabilities.

Because cerebral palsy is likely to affect a baby significantly and throughout their life, the compensation awarded is among the highest of any medical negligence claim.

That was the case around England, where trusts paid out almost £1.4bn between 2022/23 and the most recent financial year, 2024/25. Nationally, in 2024/25, 154 claims were settled at a cost of £545.9m in compensation costs alone. It means that the average payout was £3.5m.

NHS Resolution, which manages litigation on behalf of NHS Trusts said that out of 251 new claims against trusts in 2024/25, around a quarter of them (66) had the ‘primary cause’ of failed or delayed treatment. Another 46 claims were made because of an alleged failure to respond to an abnormal fetal heart rate, which can be associated with cerebral palsy.

Claims were made 27 times because of a failed or delayed diagnosis, while other supposed errors included failures to monitor different stages of labour, medical professionals failing to recognise complications, and missed antenatal screenings.

NHS Resolution recently posted its 2024/25 accounts, noting that 10 per cent of all new claims were related to obstetrics, which includes cerebral palsy claims.

But the value of those claims made up 42 per cent of the £3.1bn paid in clinical negligence damages, and more than half of the massive £4.9bn ‘cost of harm’ across all claims.

Medical Negligence Assist solicitor Sophie Cope said: "These massive payouts being made by NHS Trusts reflect just how impactful clinical negligence can be.

"Cerebral palsy is a serious life-long condition caused by damage to the brain, often as a result of negligence during pregnancy, labour or delivery. Those with cerebral palsy will often require extensive therapy, equipment and aids as well as additional care throughout their lives.

"Parents of children affected by clinical negligence have the right to seek fair compensation to assist them in making the necessary adaptations to their homes and to ensure that their children live happy and comfortable lives."

It comes as The Guardian recently revealed how hundreds of babies and women have died or suffered life-altering conditions as a result of botched care in NHS trusts across the country in recent years. Analysis of NHS figures shows the potential bill for maternity negligence in England since 2019 has reached £27.4bn – far more than the health service’s roughly £18bn budget for newborns in that time.

Labour MP Paulette Hamilton, the acting chair of the Commons health and social care select committee, told the newspaper that the figures were “absolutely shocking” and represented a “devastatingly high number of deaths and injuries of mothers and babies”.

She added: "The words ‘eye-watering’ come nowhere near to describing the enormous financial cost of these cases to the NHS, arising from failings within its own provision of care."

Jeremy Hunt, the former Conservative health secretary, told The Guardian: "It should be a matter of national shame that we now spend more on maternity litigation than the total cost of running maternity services."

Nationally, the top three hospital trusts who paid out the most in compensation were the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust (£52m for 10 claims), University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust (£50.5m for 14 claims) and Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation trust (£50m for 11 claims).

A spokesperson for RCHT said: "Our staff do their utmost to prevent complications or human error in every patient's care, and we are sorry for any occasion where something has not gone as planned. Patient safety is our top priority, and we will do everything possible to learn from incidents to reduce the chance of a similar event in the future.

"The settlements relate to five claims arising from events over a period of 17 years between 2000 and 2017. Claims relating to complications during pregnancy or birth will often result in a large award, as they cover lifetime needs.

"Medical negligence claims are paid through the national scheme run by NHS Resolution, into which NHS trusts pay annual contributions. The amount paid in compensation can vary significantly from year to year depending on the nature of claims being settled during that period."

The Department of Health and Social Care said it had inherited "an unacceptable situation where too many families are suffering from botched care” and the NHS is “paying billions for its mistakes, rather than fixing them".

It added: "We are committed to breaking that cycle and providing mothers and babies with safe, compassionate care once and for all."