The amount of money paid out by the Western Health and Social Care Trust (WHSCT) for clinical/social care negligence cases in 2020/21 was £1,779,477, according to new data released by the Department of Health.

However, compared to 2019/20, this figure marks a drop of more than £2 million paid out by the Trust, with that period seeing a total paid out of £3,847,470.

According to the data in a report released by the Department, clinical/social care negligence is defined as “a breach of duty of care by members of the health and social care professions employed by HSC organisations or by others consequent on decisions or judgments made by members of those professions acting in the course of their employment, and which are admitted as negligent by the employer or determined as such through the legal process”.

In 2020/21, the Belfast Trust paid out the most, with £7,057,538 in total, split between three categories: damages (£5,401,915), defence (£728,799) and plaintiffs (£926,824).

Closer to home, and in 2020/21, the Western Trust paid £1,344,085 in damages, £258,591 to defence, and £176,801 to plaintiffs.

In 2019/20, that figure for the Trust saw £1,972631 paid in damages, £344,074 to defence, and £1,530,765 to plaintiffs.

The report covers clinical/social care negligence cases from 2016/17 to 2020/21.

The most paid out in damages occured in 2018/19, when £2,680,019 was paid out; in 2017/18, this figure was £2,302,750.

From 2017-2021, the number of cases open at any stage in the Western Trust was more than 500. The Belfast Trust had the largest number of cases in Northern Ireland in 2021, with 1,615.

In 2021, the Western Trust had 520 cases open – a drop from 556 in 2020. However, the number of Western Trust cases open as of March 31, 2021, was 416.

In 2021, there were 29 Western Trust cases settled; 75 were closed; and there were 68 new cases.

Out of the open cases in the Western Trust, up until March 31, £4,423,222 had been paid, to date, in damages, with £1,344,085 paid in 2020/21.

Across all of the Trusts and Legacy Health and Social Services (HSS), £95.9 million (63 per cent) of the amount paid out on cases open at any stages in 2020/21 related to the Obstetrics specialty.

More than a third (38 per cent, £57.9m) of the total amount paid, to date, on clinical/social care negligence cases open at any stage during 2020/21 related to the Pregnancy/Childbirth nature of incident group.

Over all Trusts and the HSS, of the £152.4 million that had been paid on cases up to March 31, 2021, more than four-fifths (91 per cent, £138.7m) was paid on settled cases, £9.7 million (6 per cent) on closed cases, and £4 million (3 per cent) on open cases.