Welsh health boards have paid out £20m more in medical negligence claims this year compared with last year, new figures show.

According to the Western Mail, compensation payments totalled £49m, placing extra financial pressure on health boards. The figure represents a 60% increase on last year.

Cwm Taf (Rhondda Cynon Taff and Merthyr Tydfil) reported the biggest rise in compensation payouts - up almost four-fold from £1.88m in 2008-09 to £7.06m in 2009-10.

Abertawe Bro Morgannwg, in Swansea, saw its bill rise from £5.9m to £10.5m.

The figures for 2008-09 reflect the payouts made by the predecessor bodies that now make up the existing boards.

Legal fees made up a large proportion of the payouts, with the percentage of the payment that went to the claimant’s lawyers varying between 13% and 35% across the six boards, in claims that totalled more than £50,000.

A Welsh Assembly spokesman said the NHS Concerns, Complaints and Redress Arrangements (Wales) Regulations, which are due to come into force in April next year, propose a more “patient-centred” way of dealing with concerns and include the ability to settle lower-value clinical negligence claims without legal action.

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