COMPENSATION claims against Glasgow's NHS have soared this year with an extra £2.2million expected to be paid out for botched ops and medical negligence.

Official documents show NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde is expected to be £17million over-budget by March next year and an ‘excessive’ number of claims was cited as a 'cost pressure.'

Figures show claims against the NHS in Scotland have risen four-fold in the past ten years.

The board said there had been a significant rise in the number of smaller claims.

A long-running issue with the water supply at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital was also cited as a major ‘cost pressure.’ this year.

Repairs including a complete upgrade of ventilation at the children’s hospital have wracked up a £1.5million bill this year.

The issue has led to a number of children developing bacterial infections and young patients suffering from cancer are being treated in the adult hospital.

A major fire at the old Stobhill hospital in July is also expected to incur cost of £1.5million for the demolition of the building.

The board said the impact of the temporary closure of the Cowlairs Decontamination Unit, in Springburn, had not been included in the board’s financial projections.

The unit, which is responsible for the cleaning of surgical instruments, was forced to close after a failed inspection, leading to the cancellation of at least 1000 operations.

One whistleblower claimed the board was forced to spend £140,000 sending dirty equipment to a private contractor in Manchester to cope with the problem.

Claims by staff who were not able to go to work as a result of the closure of the unit are also likely to increase the total bill.

The Institute of Neurosciences, which is part of the QEUH site, has been affected by a long-running sewage problems, which saw surgeries cancelled and relocated to the private sector at one point.

Annie Wells, Tory MSP for Glasgow said: “Patients and staff deserve complete transparency when it comes to exactly what is wrong with the water supply.

“At time when our health board is millions in the red, the last thing they need to be doing is taking money away from frontline services in order to fix a problem with the water supply, which everyone would assume would be working well.

“If this continues to be a long-term issue, then serious questions must be asked of the SNP Government about why this particular site was chosen.”

Overspends within medical and nursing salaries of £2.6m and £2.4m respectively, were also referenced in the board papers, due to a reliance on bank staff but the appointment of hundreds of new nursing staff was expected to ease the financial burden.

The board said funds would be clawed back by the sale of the former Johnstone hospital and the National New Medicines Fund is expected to yield £2m more than anticipated.