The �296,811,618 figure was released by Health Minister Jane Griffiths and shows a dramatic increase from 1996/7.

Then pay-outs came to just over �1m before rising to nearly �696m in 2001/2 and falling back to �335m in 2002/3.

The British Medical Association's Edwin Borman has said the current system for compensation in the NHS is "costly, unpredictable and often unjust".