FOI Reveals South London NHS Trusts Paid £35m for Misdiagnosis Errors Cases

South London NHS trusts have paid out more than £35 million in misdiagnosis-related compensation over the last six years, with one local trust recording the highest settlement rate in the capital.

Data obtained via Freedom of Information requests by Medical Negligence Assist shows that King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust – which serves massive catchment areas in Lambeth, Southwark, and Bromley – is among the most impacted. The trust paid out £20,512,147 in damages between 2019/20 and 2024/25.

While King’s College recorded the third-highest total payout in Greater London, it holds the highest settlement rate in the city.

The trust successfully resolved 94 out of the 103 claims lodged against it, representing a 91.3% settlement rate.

The trend for high payouts in the area intensified in the most recent financial year (2024/25). Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust recorded the single highest misdiagnosis payout in all of London for that period, at £7,434,885.

Over the full six-year period, Lewisham & Greenwich paid out a total of £14,604,030, settling 105 claims out of 119 lodged (88.2%). Combined, King’s College and Lewisham & Greenwich alone account for over £35.1 million in compensation costs.

Other South London providers also saw significant activity:

• Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust paid out £3,103,598 in the 2024/25 financial year alone (the 4th highest in London)
• St George’s University Hospitals in Tooting saw a total six-year payout of £11,399,753

Despite the high figures in the south, the data highlighted a sharp contrast across the capital.

At the opposite end of the spectrum, Hackney’s Homerton Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust recorded the lowest total payout in all of Greater London, paying out just £175,663 over the entire six-year period.

Across Greater London as a whole, NHS Trusts paid out £148,502,183 in misdiagnosis-related claims over the past six years, with 729 cases successfully settled out of 1,002 lodged.

Sophie Cope, a solicitor at Medical Negligence Assist, said the data highlights an ongoing concern for patient safety.

“These figures point to a troubling pattern, where delays in diagnosis can lead to serious, life-altering outcomes for patients,”

she said.

London Misdiagnosis Claims Scoreboard

Highest Total Payouts (2019/20 to 2024/25)

1. Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust: £27,657,966
2. Barts Health NHS Trust: £25,008,737
3. King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust: £20,512,147
4. Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust: £14,604,030
5. The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust: £14,592,652

Highest Payouts Last Financial Year (2024/25)

1. Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust: £7,434,885
2. Barts Health NHS Trust: £5,094,469
3. King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust: £3,923,016
4. Guy’s and St Thomas’ NHS Foundation Trust: £3,103,598
5. Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust: £1,934,999

Most Claims Settled (2019/20 to 2024/25)

1. Barts Health NHS Trust: 116
2. Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust: 107
3. Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust: 105
4. King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust: 94
5. Barking Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust: 82

Highest Settlement Percentage (Settled vs. Lodged)

1. King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust: 91.3% (94 settled out of 103 lodged)
2. Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust: 89.9% (107 settled out of 119 lodged)
3. Lewisham & Greenwich NHS Trust: 88.2% (105 settled out of 119 lodged)
4. Barking Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust: 87.2% (82 settled out of 94 lodged)
5. Barts Health NHS Trust: 85.3% (116 settled out of 136 lodged)

Highest Average Compensation per Claimant

1. The Hillingdon Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust: £470,731
2. Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust: £369,550
3. Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust: £258,486
4. London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust: £254,140
5. King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust: £218,214

A £1.2 Billion National Toll

Nationally, the true scale of diagnostic errors paints a grim picture. A total of 9,989 misdiagnosis claims were lodged against NHS trusts across the country over the six-year period.

In total, 7,500 claims were settled nationally, costing the health service £1,201,500,909, with an average payout of £160,200 per successful claimant.

While numbers dipped during the pandemic, they have now surged to a six-year high of 1,922 new claims in the 2024/25 financial year alone. Over the six-year period, the national financial toll broke down as follows:

• 2019/20: £172,546,537
• 2020/21: £123,333,640
• 2021/22: £205,361,780
• 2022/23: £249,088,962
• 2023/24: £230,627,373
• 2024/25: £220,542,617

The Human Cost of Diagnostic Errors

Tracey McGrann’s story is a harrowing face of this growing national crisis. The Birkenhead mum-of-three was just 54 when she died suddenly in her sleep in May 2024 following a missed diagnosis.

Months prior, Tracey visited her GP with chest pains. An abnormal ECG resulted in an urgent instruction to attend A&E.

Despite a blinding fear of hospitals, she attended Arrowe Park Hospital, where another ECG was taken. Within minutes, doctors discharged her, insisting everything was ‘fine.’

Following her mother’s tragic death from ischemic heart disease (IHD), her grieving daughter Leah, 25 – who was forced to give up her career to raise her teenage sister – made a shocking discovery.

A memory popped up on her mother’s phone: a photo Tracey had taken of the A&E ECG monitor before being discharged. It clearly read: ‘moderate T-wave abnormality, consider anterior ischemia’.

Armed with this evidence, Leah confronted the hospital trust and discovered the ECG was never signed off, and with Arrowe Park not keeping copies of ECG results, Tracey’s photograph was the only paper trail.

“If they just looked at the ECG mum would’ve been on some pathway to receiving treatment. One director stated that if he was on duty that night, my mum would have been admitted,” Leah told Medical Negligence Assist.

“In the meeting my mum was reduced to a ‘mistake’. How many grieving family members haven’t investigated the death of a loved one and not caught that they died as a result of a misdiagnosis error?”

Medical Negligence Assist offers expert legal support and advice to those affected by a misdiagnosis. You can book a free consultation or call their 24-hour helpline by visiting their website.