Scottish health boards pay out £227m in compensation
The Scottish Tories say over-stretched staff are prone to too many mistakes that cash-strapped authorities can't afford
Last updated 20th Apr 2025
Scotland's NHS boards have paid almost £227 million in compensation in the past five years due surgical mistakes and other medical failings.
Statistics released to the Scottish Tories under freedom of information legislation show the money was paid out by health boards in settlements between 2019/20 and 2023/24 as a result of more than 1,000 cases.
NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde paid out the most, with just under £50 million, followed by NHS Lothian with £38.2 million. The health boards in Grampian and Highland shelled out £34million.
Scottish Tory health spokesman Dr Sandesh Gulhane laid the blame at the feet of the Scottish Government.
"These eye-watering compensation payouts are the tragic yet predictable consequence of SNP mismanagement," he said.
Catastrophic consequences for patients
"Dire workforce planning by successive Nationalist health secretaries has left frontline NHS staff dangerously overstretched and more prone to making mistakes.
"These errors often have catastrophic consequences for the patients involved, while the payouts they necessitate further reduce the resources available to already cash-strapped health boards.
"The SNP's incompetence is creating a vicious circle in our NHS, and yet they don't have a credible plan to tackle this crisis.
"Rather than continuing to defend his distracted and incompetent health secretary, John Swinney should adopt our common-sense plans to cut NHS bureaucracy, so that more money reaches the front line and less has to go on compensation due to medical negligence."
Health Secretary Neil Gray said: "The vast majority of patients receive excellent care and treatment from the NHS, but of course I apologise to anyone whose treatment has failed to reach the standards which we expect.
"Patient safety is paramount and we are committed to ensuring all health and care is safe, effective and patient-centred.
"When things go wrong we expect NHS Boards to fulfil their statutory duty to be open with patients about what happened and to learn lessons to prevent it happening again."
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