Payouts for maternity care failings branded as 'unfair'

NHS awarding better-off families more compensation

- ROSIE TAYLOR

Poorer families are being denied millions of pounds in compensation from the NHS for maternity care failings compared with wealthier families, The Independent can reveal.

Families whose babies experience brain damage due to negligent maternity care can receive multimillion-pound payouts to cover costs relating to the child’s future care and accommodation, based on their medical need. But a separate element covering the child’s predicted “loss of future earnings” is calculated on the basis of their family’s existing income and education levels, meaning that more affluent families get more cash.

In a recent settlement, a child was awarded £1.5m for loss of future earnings, based on a predicted annual salary of £50,000 over 30 years. Yet another child, whose parents had a combined income of up to £45,000 at the time of his birth, received less than £500,000.

Critics have condemned the system as “unfair”, highlighting the fact that it gives the least financial support to the families who “need it the most”, and have called for earnings payments to be linked to the average wage. MPs promised reform two years ago after admitting that “the child of a cleaner receives less compensation than the child of a banker”, but no action has yet been taken.

Money remains tight for Claire Keer and her son Zach Eagling, 13, who lives with cerebral palsy due to care failings at his birth, despite their having received a £5m compensation settlement.

The money, which the family was awarded with support from the charity Action Against Medical Accidents, has gone towards buying an adapted one-storey home, an adapted car, and £10,000 electric wheelchairs, which have to be replaced as he grows, as well as ongoing physiotherapy and speech therapy.