MILLIONS of pounds in compensation has been paid out to former patients of the trust that runs Barrow's hospital in the last year.

The figure - £6.8 million - means the University Hospitals of Morecambe Bay NHS Trust has one of the highest bills for medical negligence claims totals in the country.

It contributes to the staggering £1.1 billion in damages paid by the NHS to patients for clinical mistakes and incidents for the 2014/15 year.

The overall price tag for settlements and legal fees paid out on behalf of UHMBT - which runs Barrow's Furness General Hospital - sailed over £9.6 million for the 12 month period.

It puts the organisation among the top 15 per cent of 240 NHS organisations nationally in the compensation league table.

Some £5.4 million of the bill went on claims for obstetric failures - with £4.4 million handed over to 12 families in the area in compensation.

The figure paid to cover maternity errors is within the top ten highest amounts paid out of 134 trusts offering labour services in the country.

But a spokesman for UHMBT said the total amount related to claims dating back to 1998 - and was made up of single and interim payments.

She said: “The UHMBT obstetric payment made in 2014/15 relates to 12 individual claims.

“These claims are historic dating back to 1998 and cover a period 17 years.”

The claims have been settled by the NHS Litigation Authority - an insurance scheme for hospitals and ambulance trusts in England.

The latest data available does not give the exact number of claims settled or the nature of the cases brought forward.

UHMBT pays an annual premium to the scheme based on a projection of the complaints expected to be processed in the coming year, the range of services provided as well as its record on past payouts.

Furness General Hospital was heavily criticised earlier this year for a series of catastrophic failures in maternity care found to have resulted in the deaths of 11 babies and one mother.

The incidents were found to have taken place between 2004 and 2013 by Government health expert Dr Bill Kirkup as part of the Morecambe Bay Investigation.