Blood clot failings cost NHS £112m

Data from the NHS Litigation Authority shows a rise each year in the amount paid out to patients after medics failed to screen for the condition or give appropriate medication.

Last year, it said more than 10,000 lives could be saved each year if people going into hospital were screened for the clots which kill an estimated 25,000 people admitted to NHS wards in England every year.

Former Chief Medical Officer Sir Liam Donaldson had said in 2008 that all patients admitted to hospital should be screened.

Today’s research, from thrombosis charity Lifeblood, suggests litigation claims for the period 2005 to 2015 could top £250m in total.

Hospital inpatient data suggests that in the three months from October to December 2010, only 68.4 per cent of patients on average were screened for venous thromboembolism blood clots, despite the goal being 90 per cent. This suggests 1.16 million people were not screened during this period.