MEDICAL blunders from more than two decades ago are costing the NHS in Scotland millions of pound in claims, according to new analysis.

The rising costs of long-term care and increased life expectancy means that more money is being paid out in compensation for medical errors.

Information gathered from the BBC shared data unit showed that a total of £192.9 million had been paid towards medical negligence claims in the five years between 2012 and 2017.

The total paid out each year has risen four-fold in the past decade, with the cost of medical mistakes sitting at £9.4m in 2006-07, compared to £38.3m in 2016-17.

In Scotland, the Clinical Negligence and Other Risks Indemnity Scheme (CNORIS) manages litigation on behalf of NHS Scotland.

An annual report by NHS National Service Scotland into CNORIS said that of the claims paid in 2016/17, “the majority related to claims settled more than five years after the incident occurred, with some settlements taking considerably longer”.

It said that of the 424 medical and non-medical claims paid out in that year, only 14 involved incidents that happened after April 2014.

And around £4.5 million was paid out for incidents that happened before 1998.

It said obstetrics (maternity) claims, in particular, were cases which could take “many years to conclude”.

Peter Walsh, chief executive, Action Against Medical Accidents (AvMA), said that money paid out for historical cases could be put down to legal battles which can take many years to resolve.

He said: "Sometimes it takes a very long time to settle these complex and very serious claims.

"It could be also that there are claims relating to very old incidents that are still being made as people become aware they could be entitled to claim."

He added that maternity claims were high "because of the seriousness of the damage caused".

"Many families just can't afford not to seek compensation for these injuries - they have no choice unless they are incredibly wealthy," he said.

Mistakes made during or shortly after childbirth can leave the infant with brain damage and lifelong dependency on care, for which NHS trusts become liable.

Assessments about the child’s life-long care needs may only emerge and be made when they are older.

However, the proportion of payouts relating to maternity failings have also fallen drastically over the past ten years.

In 2007-08, obstetrics claims were responsible for 80 per cent of all payouts, while as of 2016-17, they made up 39 per cent of payouts.

Professor Jason Leitch, National clinical director for NHS Scotland said that "in rare case of clinical negligence, boards and care professionals must learn from these situations and make improvements."

He said: "As part of our commitment to transparency, improving standards, and learning lessons when something goes wrong, we are introducing a Statutory Organisational Duty of Candour."

"This will make it a legal requirement for all care providers, including NHS Boards, to review certain types of adverse events, meet personally with those affected, and to publish an annual report to support openness and learning."

NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde was the health board whose mistakes cost the most in claims over the past five years, at £53,511,137

However due to its size -- one third of NHS Scotland -- this is related to the volume of patients it treats.

A spokeswoman said that "while the largest number of claims are in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde area, this is proportionately within balance nationally."

She added: “The number of claims made against NHSGGC has not changed significantly in recent years but these figures do reflect a trend towards increasingly larger settlement amounts.”

According to the BBC shared data unit, if the data is "normalised" by looking at the size of hospital trusts, the mistakes for NHS Tayside cost the most in relation to its payouts bill for its size.

It paid out £18,614,931.22 for the same five years, amounting to £36.39 "per episode of care" compared to £21.16 for NHS Greater Glasgow & Clyde.

A spokesman for the health board said: “Clinical negligence cases often take several years to settle and the reported settlements do not necessarily relate to incidents that occurred in these years.

“In each of the last four years (2013/14 – 2016/17), NHS Tayside has settled a number of high value cases.”