The NHS Trust that runs Northwick Park Hospital has paid out more than £5m over the past five years to patients who have been affected by misdiagnoses, a Freedom of Information (FOI) request has revealed.
The figures, which were obtained by specialist solicitors Medical Negligence Assist, show that 16 of the 18 claims made against the Trust between 2019 and 2024 were settled. London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust (LNWH) provides healthcare services to over 1 million people in Northwest London, including patients at Northwick Park Hospital in Harrow.
The 16 settled claims resulted in the Trust having to pay out £5.6m - including £4,381,665 in damages paid to patients, on top of £299,290 in NHS legal fees and £987,013 in legal costs claimed by patients. The most common claims related to cancer misdiagnosis, with a total of £375,000 paid out to patients involved in five separate cases.
The cases involved failures to diagnose or delays in diagnosis, which included serious and potentially life-threatening conditions. NHS Resolution, which handles clinical negligence claims for NHS bodies in England, didn’t reveal which of LNWH’s hospitals the settled claims related to but have stated that misdiagnoses account for around one in five of all clinical negligence claims across the country.
A medical negligence solicitor at JF Law – the firm behind Medical Negligence Assist - Gareth Lloyd said: “Misdiagnosis is an all-embracing clinical negligence case type and covers a wide range of clinical situations from the simple diagnosis of a fracture to potentially fatal cancer diagnoses. These cases can be a matter of life and death, and whether someone lives or dies will be determined by the success of the diagnosis.”
Nationally, 8,067 claims regarding misdiagnoses were lodged against NHS Trusts over the same five year period. Of those, 5,677 were settled and resulted in Trusts across the country having to pay out nearly £1bn in total.
NHS Resolution highlights two consistent failings across England as reasons for misdiagnoses, one of which is diagnostic errors - particularly early incorrect diagnoses of soft-tissue injuries - and another is issues with requests for imaging, reporting, interpretation, and follow-up. The British Medical Journal also found that misdiagnosed cancers, strokes, and heart attacks were among the most serious cases, often leading to life-altering consequences or death.
A LNWH spokesperson said: “Although misdiagnosis claims are relatively rare given the number of patients we treat in our hospitals, we review every case and use each as a learning opportunity to improve patient safety. That includes continuing to invest in staff training, robust systems, and clinical processes to support accurate and timely diagnosis.
“In cases where misdiagnosis has been found to cause harm, we work with NHS Resolution to come to an appropriate settlement. We always strive to provide the best possible care and sincerely apologise where that has fallen short to the patient and families concerned.”
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