Superdrug Pharmacy Wrong Medication Claims Guide – Can I Claim Compensation Against Superdrug For Prescription Error?

This guide is aimed at educating you about the reasons why you may be eligible to make a compensation claim if Superdrug Pharmacy gave the wrong medication to you. We will cover how these mistakes come about, and also why being given the wrong medication could be construed as medical negligence.

Within this guide, we will show how, in certain circumstances, you could be eligible to make a compensation claim for a pharmaceutical error. We have tried to cover as much as possible in this guide, but you might have questions that it does not answer. If this is the case, please call our team on 0161 696 9685 today. An expert advisor will answer all of your questions for you, and also explain to you how we can assist you in making your claim.

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A Guide On Claims For Prescription Errors By Superdrug

Superdrug pharmacy wrong medication negligence claims

This guide relates to Superdrug prescription errors, and why in some cases, victims of such a mistake could have a valid basis for making a compensation claim for any harm they suffered. Reading this guide will act as a primer for making your own claim, giving you the information that you need to make informed choices about how to proceed.

We begin this guide by summarising what a pharmaceutical error is, and in what circumstances you might be eligible to claim for such a mistake. This is followed up by a discussion of the role that a pharmacy fulfils within the primary healthcare system. We explain some of the kinds of mistakes that can be made by a pharmacist or the pharmacy staff, as well as the effect that taking the wrong medication or the wrong dose of medication could have on your health.

You will find a detailed explanation covering the criteria that must be fulfilled for your claim to be potentially valid, as well as some basic information on how to make an official complaint to the National Health Service (NHS) about a pharmacist/pharmacy.

The final sections of this guide are more focused on the claims process itself rather than the cause and aftermath of pharmaceutical errors. We have provided you with a table that will help you to work out how much compensation you could possibly claim. You will also see that we have added a list of some of the kinds of damages that you could receive if you win your claim. We go over some steps you can take to help to start your claim off on the right foot, and how we can help you with your claim. Finally, we describe the process of making a No Win, No Fee claim, and show just why this kind of fee arrangement could be the right choice for you.

In much the same way that a lawyer can help you to make a personal injury claim, one of our panel of solicitors can process a clinical negligence claim for you, due to a prescription error. If you want some more information about this, or simply have some questions about the contents of this guide, then please call our team. One of our expert advisors will be able to help you further.

What Are Prescription Errors By Pharmacies?

Your pharmacist is responsible for making sure that any medication you are prescribed by a doctor, is dispensed to you accurately. Even if the pharmacist isn’t making up the prescription themselves, they are still responsible for the actions of the pharmacy staff. However, mistakes can and do occur. A patient can be given the wrong medication or the wrong dose of the right medication. They may also be provided with the wrong instructions on how to take their medication.

As a medical professional, a pharmacist has a duty of care towards all patients. This duty of care is to ensure that no patient is harmed unnecessarily, through error, oversight or omission. When a patient is harmed due to a pharmaceutical error, then this could be construed as clinical negligence, as the pharmacist has failed to maintain their duty of care towards the patient.

In the same way that a personal injury lawyer can help the victim of an accident to claim compensation for the harm they have suffered, a medical negligence solicitor can help victims of pharmaceutical errors to claim compensation in certain circumstances (more on this later in the guide). If you would like to find out whether your claim could potentially be valid, please call our team and speak to one of our advisors. They will be able to evaluate your claim for you.

What Is The Role Of A Pharmacist?

A pharmacist, and by extension, the pharmacist’s assistant and all of the other staff working in a pharmacy, are an important part of the primary healthcare system in the UK. Primary healthcare starts with a GP diagnosing medical problems, and providing treatment where applicable, or referring the patient to the correct secondary healthcare unit for specialist help. The pharmacy fits into this process by dispensing medication, and also providing general medical help and advice.

Although the main role of a pharmacy is making up prescriptions and providing patients with medication, the staff are also expected to answer questions about healthcare topics such as stopping smoking, losing weight, managing blood pressure, and so forth.

The medical professional’s duty of care applies equally across the full range of activities that take place in a pharmacy, not just the process of dispensing medicine. If a mistake is made that causes harm to a member of the public, and this could include giving bad advice, a claim could be possible in some circumstances. Speak to our team to learn more about this.

In What Circumstances Could I Claim For Wrong Medication Errors?

If you become the victim of a pharmaceutical error while using Superdrug Pharmacy services, and this includes Superdrug Pharmacy online, you may be able to claim for any harm you have suffered. The errors can take many forms, for example:

  • You might be given the wrong medication entirely, due to a mistake made whilst putting your prescription together.
  • You might be given the wrong dose of the right medication, due to a member of the pharmacy staff picking the wrong package of medication while making up your prescription.
  • You could be given incorrect information on how to take your medication, including the schedule for taking it.

There are other types of mistakes, but they are generally based on one of these three errors as their root cause. If you want to find out whether you could make a compensation claim following such a mistake at a pharmacy, please speak to one of our advisors to have your claim evaluated.

What Could Be The Effects Of Wrong Medication?

If you have been given the wrong medicine, wrong dose, or incorrect instructions about how to take your medicine, this could constitute pharmacy negligence and result in you contracting some form of illness. For example:

  • In extreme cases, you could suffer an anaphylactic reaction to the wrong medication, and this can be a fatal medical condition.
  • You could suffer from an allergic reaction that is less serious than anaphylaxis, but still painful and uncomfortable.
  • Taking the wrong medication could result in a non-allergic reaction, which could harm the internal organs, cause sleep problems, or suicidal thoughts, for instance.
  • The wrong medication could react badly with another kind of medication you are taking, causing your health to suffer.
  • If you are given the wrong dose of medication, or you are told by mistake to take the medication too frequently, you could suffer an overdose.

Each of these is an example of how a pharmaceutical error can cause physical harm to a patient. In each case, if it could be proven that the pharmacy was to blame, then it could be possible for a claim to be made.

Raising Concerns About A Pharmacy

If you become the victim of a mistake made by a pharmacist or a member of staff working in a pharmacy, such as being given the wrong prescription, it is within your rights to make a formal complaint to the NHS about it.

The NHS operates a simple, standardised complaints procedure for all complaints about NHS staff, including pharmacists. You have 12 months from the time the mistake took place to make your claim, and you can do so online, or in person. You cannot make a complaint by phone.

The NHS reviews all complaints, and in the case of a complaint about medical negligence, will decide whether it is agreed that negligence did indeed take place. If the NHS doesn’t agree, you can still try to make a claim, but you will need to be able to prove that the NHS is wrong and medical negligence did take place. This is something we can help you with. Call our team to learn more about this.

Am I Eligible To Claim For Negligence By A Pharmacy?

In the same way that people making personal injury claims need to be eligible for damages to have a chance of a claim being a success, so do people making a clinical negligence claim. In a previous section, we explained how every medical professional, including a pharmacist, and by extension the pharmacy staff, must fulfil their duty of care never to cause unnecessary harm to a patient. However, simply failing to fulfil the duty of care is not in itself sole grounds for a claim. Three key facts will need to be true about your claim for it to be potentially valid, and these are:

  • A medical professional must have failed in their duty of care towards you, through medical negligence.
  • The occurrence of clinical negligence caused you actual harm, that you would not have suffered otherwise.
  • The medical professional could have avoided harming you had they taken alternative action.

If you can prove that these three facts are true about your own circumstances, then you may well have a valid basis for making a medical negligence claim. If you would like some help working out whether your situation mirrors these facts, please speak to a member of our team today.

Pharmacy Wrong Medication Error Compensation Calculator

If you have ever made an accident or injury claim before, you might have used a personal injury claims calculator to get a general idea of the level of compensation you would have been able to claim. For a clinical negligence claim related to an illness caused by a pharmaceutical error, you can use this table below. It is based on the published Judicial Guidelines in England, used by solicitors and the courts to value claims.

Medical ConditionSeverityPaymentInfo
IllnessMinor£860 to £3,710In this category would be any illness that results in some level of disabling pain such as cramps, and also other short-term symptoms such as diarrhoea that would only last a few days to a few weeks.
IllnessModerate£3,710 to £8,950In this category would be any illness that results in symptoms that could include diarrhoea, change to the way the bowel functions, general fatigue, etc. The victim may need to stay in the hospital for a short while for treatment. The worst symptoms should disappear within a few weeks, but a complete recovery could take up to two years.
IllnessSerious£8,950 to £18,020In this category would be any serious but short-lasting illness. The main symptoms would disappear within four weeks, and may include diarrhoea, nausea, fatigue, fever, etc. Tertiary symptoms could last several years, such as a negative effect on the victim’s sex life, bowel function impairment, loss of life quality, etc.
IllnessSevere£36,060 to £49,270In this category would be any severe, possibly life-threatening illness that would require long-term hospitalisation to treat. The symptoms might include diarrhoea, high fever, abdominal or muscle pain, sickness, cramps, etc. These symptoms would manifest into the long-term and have a significant negative impact on the life quality of the sufferer.

If you would like to get a more accurate estimate of the level of damages you might receive if your claim is a success, you can call our team and we will arrange for a lawyer to value your claim for you.

Special Damages Which You May Be Able To Claim

If your pharmacy claim is a success, you will receive a compensation settlement that is made up of two main types of damages. Special damages (for financial losses and expenses) and general damages (for physical and psychological pain and suffering).

General damages are calculated by considering several factors, such as how much the claimant suffered, the kinds of treatment they had to undergo, and how long the illness lasted. General damages could include:

  • Loss of life quality, if you will never fully recover from the medical effects of taking the wrong medication. For example, your kidneys were damaged due to a non-allergic reaction.
  • Permanent disability, if you will be left with some form of impairment that will affect your ability to work.
  • Traumatic or invasive treatment, if you suffered during the treatment phase of your illness.
  • General pain and suffering, caused by your illness.
  • Stress and trauma, caused by suffering from a dilapidating illness.

Special damages are paid to the claimant to make up for any financial losses that they have suffered. To claim for costs already incurred, the claimant will need to provide documentary evidence of their spending. Special damages could include:

  • Lowered income potential in the future, due to a reduced capacity for work, or even due to having to stop working entirely.
  • Loss of earnings caused by taking time off work and losing out on salary or wages.
  • Private medical costs if you had to pay healthcare fees for treatment that the NHS could not provide.
  • Nursing and care costs, if you had to hire a nurse or carer to take care of you at home.
  • Out of pocket expenses such as travel fees directly incurred due to your illness or the process of making a claim.

These are some of the common kinds of damages that a claimant might receive. However, there are more. To check what types of damages you might be able to claim for based on your own situation, please call our team and speak to one of our advisors, they can tell you.

Steps Which You Could Take If A Pharmacist Made A Prescription Error

There are a few things you can do that will help you to prepare for making a pharmacy negligence claim. Things that will simplify the claims process, such as:

  • Make sure you keep all of the packagings for the medication that was dispensed to you in error, as well as the prescription itself and any receipt for paying for the prescription.
  • Keep all receipts, bills and invoices, as well as things like travel tickets, if you intend to claim the money back.
  • Make a formal complaint to the NHS. This is a precursor to making a compensation claim.

Taking steps such as these (as well as others) will streamline the claims process and help you prepare the evidence that your solicitor can submit in support of your claim.

Why Make A Prescription Error Claim Against A Pharmacy With Us?

We believe that we have implemented one of the simplest claims processes around. All you need to do is follow this simple three-step procedure:

  1. Call our team and explain what has happened to you. Any questions you have can be answered at this time.
  2. One of our expert advisors will evaluate your case for you, and let you know whether you have a potentially viable claim.
  3. If your claim is viable, a solicitor will begin processing it for you.

These steps can generally be taken during a single phone call, so give us a call today to get your claim started.

No Win, No Fee Pharmacy Prescription Error Claims

By using the services of a No Win, No Fee solicitor, you will have availed yourself of the legal expertise you need to make your claim, and also mitigated some of the financial risks of making a claim.

Your solicitor won’t charge any fee to begin working on your claim, or during the time they are processing it for you. If the claim fails, the lawyer will not ask you to pay the legal fees that have accrued. If you win your claim, the lawyer will likely ask you to pay a small contribution toward their costs, known as a success fee. This fee would be deducted from the compensation awarded at the end of the claim. Success fees are legally capped and will be agreed with you before the claim begins.

Begin A Prescription Error Claim Against A Pharmacy

Were you given the wrong medication at a Superdrug Pharmacy? Or perhaps the wrong dose, or the wrong instructions on how to take the medicine? Did this mistake end up causing you a health problem? If so, then please contact our team on 0161 696 9685. One of our advisors will tell you how we can help you move your claim forward.

References

These external pages could have relevant information for you:

Contact Details For Making NHS Complaints

How To Raise Concerns About A Pharmacist

NHS Information About Drug Allergies

We have published these other guides, that you may like to look over:

Claiming Against A Pharmacy

Care Home Medication Error Claims

How To Claim For A Pharmaceutical Mistake At Sainsbury’s Pharmacy

 

Guide by MR

Edited by REG