Injury Compensation at the NHS
Some doctors who have received financial compensation after injury in the past 35 years may have been underpaid, the BMA has warned.
The warning comes after a Department of Health inquiry which highlighted “anomalies with the administration” of the NHS Injury Benefits Scheme in England and Wales.
The scheme covers staff for accidents wholly attributable to their NHS work. These include needlestick injuries and attacks by patients.
The review identified more than 9,000 cases in which errors had occurred.
It found that since 1972 injury benefits due to some NHS pension scheme members had been incorrectly adjusted.
Incorrect eligibility criteria had also been used between 1985 and 1998, and some decisions had been made without the appropriate legal authority.
In some cases, staff will be entitled to a new settlement, says the BMA, and could be owed as much as £90,000.
Dr Andrew Deardon, who chairs the BMA Pensions Committee said that the organisation was “extremely disappointed” by the discovery that errors had been made.
“The fact that people who were already struggling with potentially life changing injuries have not had the level of financial support to which they were entitled is unacceptable,” he said.
Anyone who thinks they may have been underpaid should contact the NHS Pensions agency immediately, he advised.
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