Warning after star’s £5m MRSA pay-out (From The Bolton News)

Warning after star’s £5m MRSA pay-out

11:34am Monday 4th February 2008 in

• Skip social links
• Print
• Email
•  

A BOLTON solicitor is warning hospitals they could face a surge of new superbug claims.

The alert comes after former Men Behaving Badly star Leslie Ash won a record £5 million out-of-court settlement after she contracted MRSA while a patient at Chelsea and Westminster Hospital.

People who contract infections such as MRSA and Clostridium difficile while in hospital could now feel more confident about making a claim against the NHS, according to Stephenson's Solicitors, based in Silverwell Street, Bolton.

Louise Griffiths, head of Stephenson's clinical negligence department, said she regularly handles claims for patients who have had hospital acquired infections.

She said: "This record sum should act as a huge wake up call for hospitals who do not give cleanliness the priority it requires.

"Undoubtedly, the level of the compensation will have a knock-on effect on the number of the new claims for hospital acquired infections.

"However, it's worth noting that the majority of the payout was likely to be for financial losses flowing from the negligence, in this case loss of potential future earnings, rather than for actual injury."