Falls Represent a Third of Hospital Injury at Work Claims

According to figures released by Kettering General Hospital Trust, more than a third of all hospital injury compensation claims made by its own staff are attributable to slips, trips and falls.

Representatives of the Northamptonshire hospital claim that the 300,000 pounds that they paid out over the past five years in compensation payments to its staff “is comparable with other hospitals” and that “many measures, training schemes and policies and procedures in place to prevent accidents”.

Nonetheless, in the five year period to April 2011, 40 staff made hospital injury compensation claims with a total value of 313,126 pounds. 115,527 pounds was paid out in hospital injury compensation claims following falls in the hospital which were attributable to the hospital´s own lack of care, with some of the other significant amounts being:-

• 98,635 pounds for lifting injuries
• 17,079 pounds due to incidents involving needles
• 10,000 pounds in hospital injury at work claims due to the environment
• 6,171 pounds paid to staff exposed to infections, electricity or other hazardous substances

Under the terms of the hospital´s public liability insurance, all injury at work claims less than 10,000 have to be paid by the hospital itself, making a significant hole in the funds available to invest in healthcare and the wellbeing of the hospital´s patients.