How Long Does An NHS Medical Negligence Claim Take To Settle?

Medical professionals, both in the public and private healthcare sector, owe a duty of care to their patients to deliver the correct standard of care, services, and treatment. If they fail to do this, a patient could experience avoidable harm. This is medical negligence for which a claim could be made. If you’re eligible to pursue compensation, you might be wondering, “How long does an NHS medical negligence claim take?”.

There are a lot of factors that can contribute to how long the medical negligence compensation claims process could be. In this guide, we explore what might affect how long a medical negligence claim takes to settle and whether your claim may need to go to court. Furthermore, we look at how long you possibly have to complain to the NHS. 

To conclude, we tell you what work our panel of medical negligence solicitors can do to greatly help you throughout the claims process. Additionally, we explain how working with them under a No Win No Fee agreement means you can access their services without paying an upfront fee.

For more information, you can reach out to our team 24/7. They might be able to connect you with our panel of expert solicitors if you have a valid case. To reach out:

The letters 'NHS' in red on 3 separate circular wooden blocks in the middle of a stethoscope.

Jump To A Section

  1. How Long Does An NHS Medical Negligence Claim Take?
  2. What Could Cause A Delay In My Medical Negligence Claim?
  3. If My NHS Medical Negligence Claim Goes To Court, How Long Will It Take To Settle?
  4. How Our Panel Of No Win No Fee Medical Negligence Solicitors Can Help You?
  5. Find Out More On Medical Negligence Time Limits

How Long Does An NHS Medical Negligence Claim Take?

If NHS negligence were to occur, you could possibly have an eligible NHS negligence claim. However, there is no set amount of time for how long an NHS medical negligence claim could take as there are many different examples of medical negligence and each claim’s circumstances are unique. 

However, there are set time limits that are imposed on different stages of the claims process, called the Pre-Action Protocol for the Resolution of Clinical Disputes. These are a set of actions that need to be carried out to prevent as much as possible a medical negligence claim from going to court. A claim cannot go to court if these steps have not been taken.

If you instruct a medical negligence solicitor from our panel, they can carry out these actions on your behalf.

What Are The Pre-Action Protocols?

The steps that need to be taken as part of the Pre-Action Protocol include:

  • Health records should be obtained. The defendant has 40 days to provided these. 
  • Rehabilitation. Both parties decide whether the claimant has reasonable needs that could be met through rehabilitation treatment or other measures. This should be done as early as possible.
  • Sending the letter of notification. This is sent by the claimant to notify the defendant that they are likely to make a claim. It should be sent as soon as possible, and the defendant has 14 days from receiving the letter to acknowledge receipt. 
  • Sending the letter of claim. This is sent by the claimant to the defendant and details a summary of the facts on which the case is based. When a letter of claim is being sent to an NHS Trust, a copy should also be sent to the NHS Resolution. It should be sent as soon as possible, and the defendant has 14 days from receiving this letter to acknowledge receipt.
  • Receiving a letter of response. This is sent by the defendant to the claimant and details whether liability has been admitted or not. The letter of response can be sent up to 4 months after receiving the letter of claim. Within these 4 months, if at all the defendant becomes aware that they might need an extension to form the letter of response, an extension request should be made by the defendant straight away. 
  • Gathering separate expert opinions. Both parties may require extra opinions from medical experts external to the case. This stage may take some time.
  • Alternative dispute resolution. If the parties cannot reach an agreement, they can try mediation or arbitration to resolve the issue. If the matter can’t be resolved, legal proceedings will need to be initiated.

What Could Cause A Delay In My Medical Negligence Claim?

Whilst we have already established that each medical negligence case can take different amounts of time to resolve, here are some factors that influence how long the claims process can be:

  • The amount of evidence you have to show and how long it takes to gather proof of medical negligence, such as witness statements and medical records.
  • Whether the defendant admits liability or not. 
  • The severity of your avoidable harm. 
  • The length of time it takes to find an alternative dispute resolution.
  • How long court proceedings are predicted to be if your case ends up going to court.
  • Whether you recover from your avoidable harm straight away or not. 

How Long Do I Have To Complain To The NHS?

If you wish to complain to the NHS after experiencing poor care, you generally have 12 months to do so. This 12-month time limit commences from either the date of the incident or the date it was brought to your attention. Complaints against the NHS can be made in person, by email, or in writing. 

However, please be aware that experiencing poor care from the NHS will not necessarily form the basis of a valid medical negligence claim. To find out whether you’re eligible to claim compensation, please call our team. They can also provide further guidance on the question ‘How long does an NHS medical negligence claim take?’.

A crowded NHS hospital waiting room with people sat in every seat.

If My NHS Medical Negligence Claim Goes To Court, How Long Will It Take To Settle?

Whilst some NHS hospital negligence claims may be more complex than others, it is rare that a claim goes to court. 

Around 80% of cases were settled out of court between 2022/23, according to the NHS Resolution’s annual report. This means that roughly only 20% of all NHS negligence claims require court proceedings. 

However, if a clinical negligence claim does go to court, the time it will take to settle may be longer than if it was settled out of court. The exact time it takes can depend on different factors, such as the complexity of the case and whether a period of time is needed to see how the harm suffered is likely to affect the claimant in the future. 

Call today to discuss the question ‘How long does an NHS medical negligence claim take to settle?’ and what factors could influence whether a claim goes to court or not.

How Our Panel Of No Win No Fee Medical Negligence Solicitors Can Help You?

If you potentially do have an eligible NHS negligence claim, our advisors could connect you with a No Win No Fee solicitor from our panel. 

There are several ways they could assist you in claiming medical negligence compensation, such as:

  • Ensure that your settlement is valued fairly. Furthermore, they can advise you on whether you should accept the first compensation offer you are given or not.  
  • Collect your evidence to prove medical negligence. 
  • Sort out all legal correspondence between you and the defendant.  
  • Update you on the case and provide legal advice. 

While there is no legal obligation to have a solicitor represent you, there are many benefits to doing so. Additionally, a solicitor from our panel could offer you a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA).

If you instruct a solicitor to represent you under a CFA, you will not have to pay for your solicitor’s work during these times:

  • Before the claims process has commenced. 
  • During the entire claims process. 
  • If your claim is not successful. 

Even if your claim is successful, under a CFA, you will not need to directly pay for your solicitor’s work out of your pocket. Instead, a success fee can be deducted from your compensation. Success fees are a legally limited percentage, which means that the majority of your compensation is guaranteed to go to you.

Talk To Our Team Today About Your Claim

The answer to the question ‘How long does an NHS medical negligence claim take?’ can be complex. Because of this, it is recommended that you instruct a solicitor to represent you if your compensation claim is valid.

Our panel of specialist solicitors have years of experience in different types of medical negligence claims, so they can give you expert advice. To speak to a member of our team and find out whether a solicitor from our panel could help, get in touch using the details below.

A calculator next to a stethoscope to represent medical negligence compensation.

Find Out More On Medical Negligence Time Limits

Here are some of our other medical negligence claims guides:

  • Read our hospital negligence time limits guide to see how long you have to begin legal proceedings for a medical negligence claim.
  • Find out how to potentially sue the NHS for misdiagnosis if the NHS were to cause avoidable harm by misdiagnosing a patient.
  • Find out what the Bolam Test is and when it could be used in the medical negligence claims process.

Furthermore, here are some other pages which might give you more information that you are after:

Thank you for reading our guide on “How long does an NHS medical negligence claim take?” guide. If you have any other questions, please get in touch using the details provided above.