NHS is facing £4.5bn compensation bill over babies damaged at birth by hospital 'blunders'

The NHS is facing £4.5bn in compensation claims over alleged blunders by midwives and doctors that have left babies suffering severe brain damage, The Observer can reveal.

The huge sum is detailed in confidential data from the NHS Litigation Authority, which handles most of the legal claims for medical negligence against the health service in England.

It shows that the organisation has been fighting a barrage of legal cases in which the compensation being sought by families amounted to a total of £4.49bn. Three-quarters of that, £3.3bn, relates to incidents in which a child has developed cerebral palsy, brain damage which is often caused by being starved of oxygen during birth, and been left disabled. A further £739m involves claims over what the NHSLA calls 'other brain damage'.