Actor Ash gets £5m payout over hospital superbug

Actor Leslie Ash has won a record £5m damages from the NHS after contracting a hospital superbug infection that left her partially paralysed and ruined her career.

The compensation deal is the largest ever payout for a superbug infection and worth ten times the amount the Men Behaving Badly star was initially reported to be receiving.

The actor was said to be "delighted" after she reached an out-of-court settlement with the Chelsea and Westminster hospital, west London, where she contracted the superbug in 2004.

The NHS Litigation Authority, which deals with compensation claims, said the seven-figure payout reflected the amount Ash was earning at the time she was infected and might have earned in the future.

Its chief executive, Steve Walker, said: "It's the highest we have ever paid out arising from a hospital-acquired infection."

"It's high because she was earning a lot of money before this happened. Most of the value of the award is either past loss of earnings or prospective future loss of earnings."

The Chelsea and Westminster hospital has apologised to the actress and said it has since reviewed its procedures.

Janice Gardner from Russell-Cooke solicitors, who represented Ash, said the payout was expected to arrive within a month. She said: "I think she is delighted that we could reach an amicable settlement. Nobody really wants to go to court. It would have been hard going for her."

The 47-year-old was admitted to the hospital with a punctured lung and two cracked ribs after falling off her bed on to a table while having sex with her husband, the retired footballer Lee Chapman.

But following her admission in April 2004 she contracted the superbug MSSA (methicillin sensitive staphylococcus aureus), which is similar to MRSA but not as resistant to antibiotics. She became dangerously ill and now walks with a stick.

A spokesman for the Chelsea and Westminster said: "We wish to apologise to Mrs Chapman for the shortcomings in her care when she was a patient at Chelsea and Westminster hospital.

"We sincerely regret the injuries that she sustained as a result of these failings. The trust carried out a full review of all relevant procedures in this case to learn from its mistakes and to improve patient care.

"As a direct result, the trust updated its guidelines and provided nurses with additional training on monitoring infection."