A troubled North East mental health trust has paid out £2.5 million of negligence damages in the past five years. 

A "staggering" 110 claims and incidents were lodged against Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys Foundation Trust (TEWV), meaning that there had been more reports to NHS legal services about them than any other trust offering psychiatry services. 

The trust says that their size and location - comparatively larger than others in the country, serving two million people across County Darlington and North Yorkshire - means they have to meet increased and more complex demands. 

The research, by Medical Negligence Assist, found that TEWV has paid out on 28 on 110 claims, totalling £2,556,476 - figures described by them as "staggering". The remaining 82 claims were either successfully defended by the trust, or are ongoing,

Middlesbrough and Thornaby East MP Andy McDonald, who has been prominent in highlighting serious problems at TEWV, said: “These are significant sums being paid out to claimants, who are quite rightly compensated for the harm and losses they have suffered as a result of negligent health care. 

“Behind these numbers are  individual patients and their families who have been failed by the trust.

“Whilst I have been extremely critical about the performance of Tees Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust over a series of failures, there is a lot to unpick and understand from these raw figures. 

“All trusts are not the same and provide a differing range of services, some more complex than others, but I will be meeting with the trust to explore the matter further.”

A spokesperson for Tees, Esk and Wear Valleys NHS Foundation Trust said: "As one of the largest mental health trusts in the country, our patients and their loved ones are at the very heart of everything we do.

"The majority of those we care for have a positive experience. However, we know there's more we need to do.

"We're incredibly sorry when care falls below the standards we set ourselves, and are committed to working with our patients and their families to really understand what happened and make the necessary improvements.”

It has been a turbulent year for the trust - in April this year, TEWV was ordered to pay £215,000 for safety failings which contributed to the deaths of two vulnerable patients.

Christie Harnett, 17, from Newton Aycliffe, took her own life at the former West Lane Hospital, in Middlesbrough, in June 2019 prior to its closure.

Another unnamed woman ‘Patient X’ also took her own life at Roseberry Park Hospital, on Marton Road, another of the trust’s facilities, in November 2020.

At a sentencing hearing at Teesside Magistrates’ Court, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) said the trust failed to address ligature risks, carried out inadequate observations and underestimated the risk of self-harm.

Elsewhere in the region, mental health care provider Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear Foundation Trust also paid out for claims in the millions. 

Data released under the Freedom of Information Act revealed that Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust had paid out £3.1m since April 2019. 

Damages were paid out on 19 claims, out of 66. 

A spokesperson for Cumbria, Northumberland, Tyne and Wear NHS Foundation Trust, said: “As an organisation, we strive to provide the best quality care possible. However, we acknowledge that we don’t always get it right.

"We are truly sorry and when this happens, we review the care provided, look at what went wrong and how we can prevent it from happening again.”

This comes amid the start of the UK's first ever public inquiry specifically looking at the deaths of mental health patients.

The long-awaited Lampard Inquiry began on  September 9 and is set to focus on the deaths of more than 2,000 mental health patients under the care of the NHS in Essex but is likely to have wider implications for mental healthcare across the NHS. 

The inquiry was prompted partly by the death of 20-year-old, Matthew Leahy who died in November 2012 after he was found unresponsive in his room at a secure mental health unit in Chelmsford eight days after he was sectioned. 

An inquest found his death occurred after a “series of multiple failings and missed opportunities.”

Since then, families in similar circumstances have been campaigning for reform across mental health services.

The NHS as a whole has paid out at least £121m in mental health and psychiatry negligence claims in the last five years.

That includes £51m over claims related to death, £28m for claims relating to failures or delays in treatment and a further £18m over claims related to self-harm.