Hospital group pays out €270m in compo over past decade

The hospital group that the Midlands Regional Hospital Mullingar is part of has paid out more than €270m in compensation over the past decade.

New figures obtained by Deputy Peadar Tóibín in the Dáil have revealed that the Ireland East Hospital Group, which is made up of 11 hospitals: the Mater, St Vincent's, MRH Mullingar, Our Lady's in Navan, St Luke's in Kilkenny, Wexford General Hospital, St Columcille's in Loughlinstown, St Michaels in Dun Laoghaire, the National Orthopaedic Hospital, the National Maternity Hospital, the Royal Victoria Eye and Ear Hospital, paid out a total of €272, 929, 401 in compensation to patients between 2012 and 2021.

In 2021 alone, the group paid out more than €25m, making it the second worst year in terms of payouts after 2017 when the figure was almost €39m.

The Dublin Midlands Hospital Group, which is made up of seven hospitals: MRH Tullamore, MRH Portlaoise, Naas General Hospital, St James's, the Coombe and St Luke's, paid out just under €200m over the same period.

The South/Southwest Hospital Group, which comprises ten hospitals, paid out over €450m between by 2012 and 2021, by far the highest figure.

In total, Ireland's seven hospital groups paid out over €1.6bn over the past decade

Responding to the figures released to him, Deputy Tóibín said:

"These are extraordinary sums of money. Over the past decade, 1.6 billion euro has been paid out by hospitals in compensation. In the South/ South West Hospital Group the amount paid out since 2019 stands at a whopping 150 million euro, while the corresponding figure for the Saolta group is 125 million. I have no doubt that mistakes are being made in large part due to the under staffing of our hospitals. Frontline workers are so abandoned by the government. Secondly there is a massive problem with management within the HSE. The HSE is an opaque accountability-free-zone. With all these pay-outs has anyone at all been held accountable for these mistakes? The only one footing the bill for these errors is the taxpayer - to the tune of 1.6 billion euro”.

"These cases represent horrific situations where people suffered wrongs in hospitals. People have lost their lives, people have been left incapacitated.  The €1.6bn paid out in claims would have gone a long way towards reducing waiting lists and providing critical services. The HSE must be reformed. We must have proper accountability. Money must be focused on front line treatments and not on the layers of management," concluded Deputy Tóibín.