Somerset's main hospital trust paid out more than £13.5m in medical negligence claims in the last 12 months.

The Somerset NHS Foundation Trust is responsible for running Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton, Yeovil Hospital in Yeovil, Somerset's numerous community hospitals and minor injuries units (MIUs) and the county's mental health provision.

A freedom of information request has revealed that the trust is in the top ten nationally for medical negligence payouts, with officials handling dozens of separate claims in the last year.

The trust said it always strove to deliver the highest possible care to its patients and had "robust" structures in place to investigate and address any shortfall in its standards.

Medical negligence occurs when a healthcare professional provides substandard care to a patient that falls below the standard expected of any healthcare professional.

A claim may arise if the patient subsequently suffers unnecessary or avoidable harm.

The freedom of information (FOI) request, which covers the period from July 2022 to July 2023, revealed that 77 medical negligence claims were lodged against the trust – with a total of £13,511,879 being paid out.

This is the eight-highest of any NHS trusts in England and Wales, and the highest of NHS trust in the south west, based on the trusts which responded to the FOI request.

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Of the other trusts in the top ten, three are based in London, three in the south east, and three in the midlands.

Nick Banks, head of medical negligence at JF Law, said patients should not worry about making a claim against hospital trusts for fear of diverting funds away from front-line services.

He said: "As well as the obvious emotional impact, injuries and bereavements can cause a bigger financial impact than many households can bear, particularly in the current cost of living crisis, when many are already struggling to make ends meet.

"While some people understandably worry that making a claim will affect front line care, the reality is that hospitals and GPs are always insured against such claims.

"As such, any damages owed are paid by the insurers, and do not affect the care other patients are receiving."

Somerset NHS Foundation Trust has not divulged information about any of the individual claims, but said that the risks facing its facilities varied from other hospitals covering different catchment areas.

Additionally, some cases are complex, take many years to resolve, and payments may be made in instalments – meaning payments made in 2022/23 may not solely relate to claims made in this time period.

A spokesman said: "We aim to provide the highest standards of patient care across all our services, and have robust governance systems in place to report, investigate and respond when patients' care falls short of those standards.

"When things go wrong, we work hard to identify what happened, what needs to be done differently and any lessons that can be learned, including additional training that can be shared with colleagues to improve our services."