Liverpool Women's Hospital: Trust surgeon claims '£30m'
A women's hospital that agreed to compensate hundreds of women claiming a surgeon's negligence made their incontinence worse has set aside £30m in reserves for potential claims.
Liverpool Women's Foundation NHS Trust accepted liability in 2011 over ex-consultant George Rowland.
It has revised an estimated cost of more than 400 claims from £44m to £30m.
A solicitor acting for nearly 90% of the women suing the trust says that the real cost should be nearer £15m.
A finance report earlier this year to the trust's council of governors from its deputy director of finance warned it would need an estimated £44m reserve to deal with the Rowland claims.
Sarah Riley said the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA), which underwrites legal claims against NHS trusts, had expressed concern the trust was receiving more money from its risk pooling scheme than it was paying in.
The authority now wants to reclaim costs from certain high-risk trusts by making them pay for claims that exceeded their premiums.
But Jonathan Herod, the medical director at Liverpool Women's Hospital, said it would need less money to pay off the claimants.
"The £44m figure originally estimated back in March is now closer to £30m," he said.
Ian Cohen, who is representing 360 women, said: "The revised down figure of £30m still seems very high and does not reflect the way this litigation has been conducted by the parties.
"A more accurate figure would be in the region of £15m, which is still too high.
"The key question for the Liverpool Women's Hospital and the NHSLA is what steps have they taken to ensure that such mistakes are not allowed to happen again?"
The women claimed Mr Rowland, a former uro-gynaecologist, who resigned from the profession in 2013, performed some operations that were unnecessary or poorly performed.