The Accident Claim Company

NHS Compensation Claims

Many thousands of people each year claim NHS compensation from The National Health Service (NHS) which is a publicly funded organization that provides free healthcare for all residents of the UK. The NHS covers all kinds of medical services from routine outpatient care to hospital stay surgeries and accident & emergency treatment.

Determining a valid claim for medical negligence

Negligence in legal definition is the failure by a person to exercise care that a prudent person in the same situation would have exercised. Medical negligence therefore is the failure by medical personnel like doctors, nurses, dentists or any medical staff to exercise the necessary care and attention to procedures that is expected of medical personnel.

For medical negligence to be valid, the claimant must prove the following: that a duty of care was owed to the injured person. This person who should have therefore given this care neglected to do so to a competent level expected and as a consequence there was a breach of that “duty of care” by the defendant. As a result of that breach, the claimant or injured party suffered harm or damage (causation).

If the above three things can be proved, then you may have a claim for clinical or medical negligence.

Proving NHS medical negligence

To prove that a duty of care was owed to the claimant, the hospital that the patient was in must obviously be one belonging to NHS and that they agreed to treat him or her. Proving that there was breach of the duty of care, the NHS compensation solicitor will need to show that during the time you or the family or friend member you are claiming for were being cared for, a medical personnel worker was negligent in his or her service and actions towards you. During an NHS compensation claim the most difficult part to prove is the causation. The medical lawyer has to show that the harm suffered by the plaintiff was directly linked to the breach of duty by the healthcare provider, which in some circumstances can take considerable time, if many factors need to be considered.

Who’s claiming compensation from NHS?

According to the Daily Mail and other news media, staff as well as patients are claiming compensation and the most recent legal costs for the compensation fund was forced up to £15.7 billion, which according to the article makes the compensation fund about one seventh of the NHS budget. So it’s not just a handful of isolated cases, but many thousands upon thousands of people claiming similar NHS compensation payouts regularly for mishaps and hospital blunders and doctors mistakes, which can often ruin lives of many people in society.

Liability of NHS

Although doctors are liable for their own negligent treatment, the NHS is vicariously liable for the actions of its doctors and all its healthcare professionals. This means that NHS is liable to pay for any damages arising from the actions of its hired employees in their course of their service to NHS.

Medical negligence is available for the following scenarios: negligence in relation to diagnosis, medication, surgery, dentistry, psychotherapy, psychiatric care delays in treatment, counseling, and child birth and brain damaged newborn for example.

If you have a valid, medical negligence claim, it is best that you get medical negligence solicitor to take up your case for you. An expert medical lawyer can help you through the complex legal side of things and ensure that you get maximum compensation for your misfortune of being injured whilst in care of the NHS. If your medical negligence claim falls under the dental category, then you will need to get a dental solicitor to help in this regard.

The most common medical negligence claim is based on misdiagnosis. There are two types of misdiagnoses: one is where a disease is the doctor fails diagnose the disease and the other is when the doctor diagnoses incorrectly. Claimants who successfully prove their claims of being misdiagnosed are entitled to misdiagnosis compensation.

NHS compensation complaints

Once you notify the NHS of your medical negligence claim, the NHS can either settle out of court with you, which is usually the case or agree to proceed to court if things are very complex. The cases that proceed to court are usually those that the NHS does not think have a valid claim for medical negligence or those where the claimant did not approve of the compensation amount offered by NHS.
NHS compensation can either be for specific or general damages: General damages- this means that you are awarded for the pain and suffering caused by the negligent medical and/or dental treatment. This figure is usually dependent on precedents and the judicial studies board guidelines upon the assessment of general damages in personal injury cases (a guide printed by the government)Special damages- These are the also referred to “out of pocket” expenses and can be quantified in cash and are different for each case. They would include costs for future treatment costs, loss of earnings medication costs etc.
Whatever help you need claiming against the NHS for NHS compensation, The Accident Claim Company can help get you stared by finding you the very best medical solicitor for your claim so that you can get on with your life.

Further reading:
NHS £1m compensation
nhs bailout fund
Department for health
BBC article
Health Service Journal article

nhs compensation payouts | does the nhs go to court or settle out of court |