Hospital Negligence Compensation Claims Guide

This guide discusses hospital negligence claims and explains when you could seek medical negligence compensation. We begin by looking at what could be meant by negligent hospital treatment and how a medical professional or healthcare provider falling short of correct standards could lead to avoidable harm.

By looking at examples of hospital negligence, it could help you in your own claim against an NHS trust or private health care provider. 

Finally, we explain how an experienced solicitor from our panel of experts could help you seek compensation with no upfront payments through their No Win No Fee terms.

You can call our advisors any time for free advice about medical negligence cases. Furthermore, we offer a free full case assessment and advice on how a No Win No Fee solicitor could help you make a compensation claim. Find out more by:

• Calling 0161 696 9685.
• Use our web form to contact us and request a call.
• Speaking to an advisor through the live chat feature.

Select A Section

1. What Is Hospital Negligence?
2. Examples Of Medical Negligence In Hospitals
3. Who Could You Sue For Hospital Negligence?
4. No Win No Fee Medical Negligence Claims?
5. Where Can You Find Out More About Claims For Clinical Negligence?

What Is Hospital Negligence?

You could get medical attention in a hospital if you go to A&E for emergency support, visit a specialist for a scheduled appointment or undergo surgery. When you receive treatment in a hospital, you will be in the care of one or more practitioners. This can include:

• Doctors.
• Nurses.
• Midwives.
• Surgeons.
• Anaesthetists.

They all have professional standards to follow and must strive to provide the correct level of care. Medical negligence is defined as a negligent deviation from those standards that leads to a patient suffering avoidable harm.

Who Is Eligible To Make A Hospital Negligence Claim?

If a recent hospital visit has left you more poorly than you went in, you may be wondering if you could claim compensation. However, in order to have a valid clinical negligence claim, your case must meet specific criteria. When receiving hospital treatment, you can sometimes suffer side effects for which a claim would not be possible. It is only when you have suffered avoidable harm that you are eligible to claim compensation.

To make a medical negligence claim, you must meet the following criteria:

• A practitioner or healthcare provider owed you a duty of care.
• They breached this duty by providing substandard care,
• And this caused you to suffer avoidable harm.

Clinical negligence cases could feature serious and even fatal consequences as many patients require help with significant or life-threatening injuries and illnesses.

You can see examples of hospital negligence further on in this guide. If you are already aware that you suffered harm due to a breach of the duty of care owed to you, call our advisors today and find out if you could claim compensation for negligent treatment at a hospital with the help of a solicitor from our panel.

Examples Of Medical Negligence In Hospitals

These examples of hospital negligence illustrate medical negligence in a hospital setting:

• An elderly patient with low mobility is hospitalised for a long period. Their nurses do not move them or change the bedding, leading to painful bed sores. A particularly bad bed sore on the leg turns septic, necessitating a below-knee amputation.
• A patient is admitted to hospital with severe bowel pain and rectal bleeding. Rather than order more tests or diagnostic scans that were needed a doctor misdiagnosed them with IBS; they are sent home, but have to return when the pain worsens. They are finally given a delayed diagnosis of bowel cancer, but only after it has caused severe organ damage.
• A doctor gives their patient the wrong medication because they mixed up their medical records with another patient’s. The medicine includes an ingredient the patient is allergic to and they suffer a bad anaphylactic shock when they take it.
• After being tasked with amputating a patient’s right arm, a surgeon makes an error and amputates the left arm instead. This wrong site surgery leads to the patient eventually losing both arms.

If you have experienced avoidable harm because a practitioner did not give you the right standard of care, you could have the right to claim. Call the number above for a free consultation to find out if you could seek medical negligence compensation. Our advisors may also be able to provide you with additional examples of potential hospital negligence cases that could lead to a claim.

Failure To Monitor Hospital Patients

Diagnosing and treating ailments, injuries, illnesses, and diseases are part of a practitioner’s job. They also must monitor their patient’s condition regularly and take action when needed. A failure to monitor a patient’s condition could result in a breach of a medical professional’s duty of care. 

Not monitoring a patient through negligent means could lead to any of the below:

• A birth injury caused by a lack of monitoring a mother or baby during labour.
• Respiratory issues or brain damage through lack of oxygen because an anaesthetist does not track oxygen levels.
• Infection after surgery due to a lack of monitoring dressings or healing wounds.
• Developing or worsening issues because symptoms were not spotted, leading to delayed treatment.
• Growing psychological injury because post-treatment distress was not monitored.

You could claim compensation for hospital negligence if a medical professional’s negligent failure to monitor your condition led to avoidable harm. Please call to discuss your experience and see how much compensation you could seek for hospital negligence.

Who Could You Sue For Hospital Negligence?

Medical negligence claims can be made against an NHS Foundation Trust, private hospital or healthcare provider, GP surgery, pharmacy, nursing home or another healthcare provider, not usually the medical professional themselves. 

Generally, a hospital negligence claim will be made against the hospital’s NHS Trust or private health service provider.

NHS Foundation Trusts

NHS England estimates that it sees around 1.3 million people per day, with approximately 140,000 a day staying overnight. Medical professionals working in an NHS hospital must maintain their standards, which are written in guidance such as the NHS Constitution for England.

Patients in NHS hospitals could need anything from straightforward care to specialist attention or treatment for long-term illness. 

Private Hospital Negligence

A claim for hospital negligence in the UK will not always be made against the NHS. Private hospitals provide care at a cost and patients pay fees. However, clinical negligence is a possibility at a private facility, just as it is in a public hospital.

No matter whether a medical professional works for an NHS Trust or a private facility their duty of care remains the same. All medical professionals must provide every patient they agree to treat with a service that equates to reasonable skill and care. A professional who fails to provide this is in breach of their duty.

If you have any questions about making a hospital negligence claim against the NHS or a private service, please give us a call, and an advisor will be happy to help.

No Win No Fee Medical Negligence Claims?

If you have reasonable grounds to sue a public or private hospital for negligent care, you might consider doing so with the support of an experienced medical negligence solicitor. Our panel’s specialist hospital negligence solicitors have years of combined experience in helping claimants seek compensation. Among the many benefits of their service is having a professional on hand to:

• Submit the right documents within the legal time limit for a hospital negligence claim. Generally, court proceedings must be issued within three years. 
• Send and handle correspondence.
• Keep you updated throughout the process.
• Help to gather and present evidence such as medical records or witness statements in order to prove medical negligence.
• Push for the right compensation using their in-depth knowledge of hospital negligence payouts in the UK.

All of this and more could be available to you under a form of No Win No Fee arrangement called a Conditional Fee Agreement. The terms mean your solicitor will not seek payment for their work upfront or during the case. Should the claim fail, there is no payment for their service at all.

Winning the case means you receive compensation, and your solicitor would take a small percentage as their success fee. Because of the legal cap applied by The Conditional Fee Agreements Order 2013, you are certain to take the majority of a settlement. Please get in touch if you have any questions about how hospital negligence claims work.

Speak To Our Team About A Hospital Negligence Case

Our advisors can answer any questions about hospital negligence claims and use a few details to put together a case assessment. If you have a valid claim, you could be connected to one of our panel’s expert medical negligence solicitors for further guidance.

Our service is available around the clock so if you have any questions about making a claim for medical negligence, please speak to us today. Reach us through any of these routes today:

• Call 0161 696 9685.
• Contact us through our online form.
• Click on the live chat tab at the foot of this page.

Where Can You Find Out More About Claims For Clinical Negligence?

Here are some further hospital negligence claim guides from us:

• Our guide to death by hospital negligence explains how hospital negligence solicitors can help the deceased’s loved ones make a compensation claim.
• A look at cosmetic surgery negligence and who you can sue for negligent surgery.
• Check out our medical negligence FAQ for answers to numerous claim questions.
• We also have guides on claiming against a hospital for different types of misdiagnosis claims, such as claiming for a missed lumbar fracture.
• If you have been harmed by medical negligence while receiving eye treatment, you can read our guide on potentially claiming for such an incident.

These resources may help as well:

• Care Quality Commission details how to complain about a service or provider’s medical care.
• The General Medical Council explains the duties of a doctor.
• NHS Never Events data

Thank you for reading our guide to hospital negligence compensation claims. Please call if there’s anything we can support you with.