Kettering General Hospital Trust has announced that it has paid out more than 300,000 pounds in hospital injury compensation to its own staff in the past five years – the biggest proportion of which was attributable to falls at work compensation.
Claims for injury at work were made on over 40 occasions between 2006 and 2011 for injuries sustained by staff at the hospital due to falls, manual handling injuries, lifting accidents, abuse by patients and incidents involving sharp objects such as needles.
Liz Libiszewski, nursing and quality director at Kettering General Hospital, explained that statistics for injury at work claims settled in any given period do not offer relevant information on safety during that period. “Legal claims – particularly disputed ones – can take several years to settle, so any set of figures would include claims which were a number of different years old,” she said, adding that the establishment’s safety record “is comparable with other hospitals”.
The Trust´s chief executive, Lorene Read went on “Kettering General Hospital takes staff safety very seriously indeed and we have many measures, training schemes and policies and procedures in place to prevent accidents. These include compulsory induction and refresher training courses in lifting and moving patients and other objects, health and safety at work training, and training around the correct use, and disposal, of syringes and needles.
The Trust is insured for hospital work injury compensation claims above the 10,000 pounds excess it has to pay itself.