In the 2019/20, 2021/22 and 2023/24 financial years alone, the trust spent £4,541,624 of public money dealing with cases of A&E negligence.

This figure includes damages, NHS legal costs and claimant costs paid, as 27 claims about emergency department carelessness were lodged since 2019.

Some 18 of these were settled.

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On a national scale, UHS, which provides services to around 1.9 million people, argued it was not among the trusts which had the highest claims.

The data reflected this, as it was one of 88 trusts to receive fewer than five claims in the 2022/23 year, and was not within the top 45 for most claims in any year since 2019/20.

However, a note from NHS Resolution, which provided the data, said that trusts should not be seen as competing on a “league table”.

This is because “large member organisations and those which provide more complex treatments may receive more claims than smaller organisations or those providing low risk care”, and that each trust faces different levels of risk based on the procedures they perform.

A&E negligence refers to any “avoidable” medical errors made in the emergency department, which end up making a patient’s health worse.

These mistakes could include those of human error, such as misdiagnosis, or they could be environmental, such as unclean waiting rooms.

The highest number of claims against UHS was made in 2020/21, when nine were filed, as shown in research conducted by Medical Negligence Assist.

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The Southampton-based trust was one of 88 out of 215 to receive fewer than five claims in the 2022/23 year.

UHS forked out £2,989,961 in 2023/24, £1,381,122 in 2021/22 and £170,541 in 2019/20.”

Paul Grundy, chief medical officer at UHS said: “As an organisation we reflect not only on claims information but all contributions to learning across our patient safety agenda.

“Our emergency department (ED) treats more than 150,000 patients each year and has recorded among the lowest number of ED medical negligence claims in England.

“We are absolutely committed to delivering the very best standards for everyone in our care, and so on those the occasions that we get things wrong, we carry out a thorough investigation, ensuring learnings are shared to help us improve the quality and safety of the clinical care we deliver and to minimise the risk of recurrence.”