Patients in Calderdale handed nearly £3 million in compensation in last three years

Around two-thirds of the total relates to a single pay-out of just over £2m in 2017 to a patient at Calderdale Royal Hospital.

There were 23 separate pay-outs between 2016 and 2018, all but two of which were to patients at the hospital. The other two were patients were from the Broad Street Plaza medical centre.

The figure leaped from £376,000 in 2016 to £2.5m in 2017 and then dropped to just under £85,000 last year, with amounts other than the £2m pay-out ranging from £1,500 to £375,000.

The Courier submitted a further Freedom of Information request for details about the £2m pay-out in 2017, but were told: "It is not possible for us to provide this information through a Freedom of Information request as legally we cannot provide the details without the patient’s consent."

Calderdale and Huddersfield NHS Trust Medical Director, David Birkenhead, said: “We are always genuinely sorry when care falls short of the levels our patients expect and deserve.

"All our teams here at the Trust are committed to providing our patients with safe, quality care with compassion and we would take this opportunity to apologise again to families who have been let down.

"On these occasions we always investigate to find what can be learned and shared with all relevant teams to ensure the improvements are made.”

An NHS Resolution spokesperson said: “On those rare occasions when things goes wrong in healthcare it is important that we learn in order to improve and that we compensate those who have been harmed. The amounts paid out every year in compensation can represent incidents which occurred many years ago.”