In this guide, we discuss everything you need to know about hospital negligence claims. When you’re in a hospital requiring medical attention, you expect to be given the proper standard of care. While the medical professionals in this country work tirelessly, mistakes can sometimes unfortunately happen. If proper standards of care aren’t met, and you’re harmed unnecessarily because of this, you could be entitled to claim compensation.
Key Takeaways
- All medical professionals in a hospital owe a duty of care to every patient they treat.
- Depending on the circumstance, you could make a medical negligence claim on someone else’s behalf.
- A claim can be made against a private healthcare service or the NHS.
- Generally, you have 3 years to claim compensation after suffering medical negligence.
- Our panel of specialist medical negligence solicitors all work on a No Win No Fee basis.
Our panel of solicitors have years of experience in winning hospital negligence claims for clients. They can use their knowledge to make the claims process as easy as possible for you. To find out for free whether you can begin a claim today, simply contact us for free:
- Call 0113 460 1216.
- Or, fill out the ‘Contact Us’ form.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What Are Hospital Negligence Claims?
- The Most Common Examples Of Hospital Negligence
- Who Can Claim For Negligence In A Hospital?
- Can Claims Be Made On Behalf Of Someone Else?
- How Much Hospital Negligence Compensation Could I Get?
- Will My Negligence Claim Negatively Impact The NHS?
- How To Sue A Hospital For Medical Negligence
- Finding The Right No Win No Fee Medical Negligence Solicitors
- More Information
What Are Hospital Negligence Claims?
Hospital negligence claims are a legal process made by patients who have suffered avoidable harm (harm that could have been prevented) after receiving substandard care in a hospital. The aim is to secure compensation from those responsible for the negligence.
Substandard care in a hospital is also known as a breach of duty of care. All medical professionals in a hospital owe a duty of care to every patient they treat. To abide by this duty of care, medical professionals must always provide a standard of care that does not fall below the minimum expectations. If they ever do, this is considered a breach of their duty.
The Most Common Examples Of Hospital Negligence
Here are some common examples of how hospital negligence could potentially occur:
- Medication errors – For example, a pharmacist mislabels your medication due to them not paying due attention. This medication error leads to brain damage from an anaphylactic shock, as you were allergic to the medication you were wrongly given.
- Pressure sores – For example, you are immobile in a hospital bed, and the hospital staff fail to frequently move you from your position. This leads to you developing pressure sores.
- Failed or delayed diagnosis – For example, you go to A&E with all the most common symptoms of a specific condition, such as sepsis. However, a doctor fails to send you for further tests and sends you home despite your concerns, which leads to your condition worsening.
- Unhygienic medical practices – For example, a nurse takes your bloods with a needle that’s already been used on other patients. This leads to you acquiring an infection.
- Surgical errors – For example, you undergo an operation to have your left leg amputated, but due to the surgeon not checking your medical reports correctly, they amputate your right leg instead.
- Misdiagnosis – For example, a doctor misdiagnoses your lung cancer as asthma due to inexperience. This means you need more invasive treatment then you would have if the cancer was diagnosed earlier.
- Birth injuries – For example, a midwife incorrectly uses forceps, which causes both internal injuries to the mother and head injuries to the baby.
Please note that these examples don’t cover all the ways a medical professional could potentially breach their duty of care and cause avoidable harm. If you believe you’ve suffered hospital negligence, please have a chat with us today about your circumstances.
Types Of Hospital Infections
Here are some examples of types of hospital infections a patient could potentially catch if a hospital is negligent:
- MRSA (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus).
- Staph (Staphylococcal) infections.
- C. diff (Clostridium difficile).
- Pneumonia.
Again, these examples don’t cover all the types of infections that could potentially be contracted in a hospital.
If you have contracted a hospital-acquired infection, please contact us today, as you could be eligible for compensation.
Who Can I Claim For Negligence In A Hospital?
Anyone who meets the following criteria can make a claim for negligence in a hospital:
- You were owed a duty of care in a hospital by a medical professional.
- The medical professional provided substandard care.
- You suffered avoidable harm as a result of this substandard care.
To find out whether you’re eligible for medical negligence compensation, it’s as simple as giving us a free quick call today.
Do I Have To Have Been Treated Privately To Claim?
No, you don’t have to have been treated privately to claim compensation. As they both owe the same duty of care, hospital negligence claims can be made against a private healthcare service or the NHS, as long as you meet the above eligibility criteria.
The only difference between the two types of claims is that:
- When you claim against the NHS, you would claim against the relevant trust.
- When you claim against a private hospital, you would claim through their insurance.
Will I Need To Log A Complaint Prior To Claiming?
No, you don’t need to log a complaint prior to making a compensation claim, as they are two different things.
However, making a complaint against the hospital responsible for the negligence can:
- Contribute to your evidence.
- Prevent the same thing happening to another patient in the future.
- Help answer any questions you have about the negligent treatment you received.
A solicitor from our panel can help you make a complaint while they process your compensation claim, if you wish to do this.
Can Claims Be Made On Behalf Of Someone Else?
Yes, in some circumstances, hospital negligence claims can be made on behalf of others. Children and those who lack mental capacity cannot make their own claims.
Loved ones can apply to be a litigation friend for the claimant, meaning they can make a medical negligence claim on the claimant’s behalf while they are unable to make a claim themselves.
However, a litigation friend only has until the claimant either:
- Turns 18.
- Regains their mental capacity.
To begin a claim on their behalf.
Please contact us for more information on how to make a No Win No Fee medical negligence claim for someone else.
How Much Hospital Negligence Compensation Could I Get?
If your claim is successful, the amount of hospital negligence compensation you could get depends on the extent to which you’ve been:
- Physically
- Emotionally
- Financially
affected by hospital negligence. There is no exact figure, since all hospital negligence claims are unique in circumstance.
Your physical and emotional impacts are compensated under a head of claim called ‘general damages’.
When valuing general damages, legal professionals may use the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) to help them. These guidelines contain compensation brackets for a variety of illnesses and injuries.
Below, you can find some information from the JCG, including what compensation brackets they have for different types of harm. Please note that none of these figures can be guaranteed for your specific hospital negligence claim. Additionally, the first figure isn’t from the JCG.
| Type of harm | Severity of harm | Guideline compensation brackets | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multiple serious types of harm with special damages | Serious | Up to £1,000,000+ | Compensation covering multiple serious types of harm with related expenses, such as care costs and medical bills. |
| Brain damage | Very severe (a) | £344,150 to £493,000 | Cases include 'locked-in' syndrome with a substantially limited life expectancy. |
| Less severe (d) | £18,700 to £52,550 | There's no full restoration of all normal functions, but a large recovery will be made and the person will be able to return to work and have a normal social life. | |
| Leg | Amputations (a)(i) loss of both legs | £293,850 to £344,150 | Where both leg amputations are above the knee. |
| Amputations (a)(iv) below-knee amputation of one leg | £119,570 to £162,290 | The award depends on whether there are any complications or not. | |
| Kidney | Loss, or serious and permanent damage (a) | £206,730 to £256,780 | To both kidneys. |
| Loss of one kidney (c) | £37,550 to £54,760 | Where the remaining kidney is unaffected. | |
| Female reproductive system | Infertility (a) | £140,210 to £207,260 | Along with sexual dysfunction, severe depression and pain. |
| Delayed diagnosis of ectopic pregnancy (f) | £4,140 to £24,930 | Where fertility is not affected. |
What Factors Would Determine My Payout Amount?
The value of your general damages will depend on factors such as:
- Loss of amenity (how your quality of life has changed).
- How severe your pain is.
- What the prognosis of your avoidable harm is like, including what treatment you require and how long the recovery process will take.
Can I Be Paid Back For Any Of My Financial Losses?
Your financial impacts could be compensated under a head of claim called ‘special damages’.
Here are some examples of financial losses you may have suffered as a result of your avoidable harm:
- Lost earnings from being unable to work white you recover.
- Professional care costs.
- Home adaptation costs. For example, the cost to install a stairlift.
- Travel expenses for attending essential medical appointments.
- Specialist medical fees. For example, buying prescriptions.
In some cases, the special damages award may be bigger than the general damages award. For this reason, it’s essential that you have evidence of your financial losses. So, please keep any:
- Payslips.
- Receipts.
- Invoices.
- Bank statements.
That show how you’ve been financially affected by medical negligence.
For more information on how much your hospital negligence claim could potentially be worth, please contact us today.
Will My Negligence Claim Negatively Impact The NHS?
No; medical negligence cases made against the NHS don’t result in any negative impacts, as compensation is paid out of the NHS Resolution rather than from the funds for the institution itself.
You have every right to claim compensation if you have suffered medical negligence, and suing the NHS also won’t affect your ongoing or future treatment.
According to the NHS Resolution’s 2023/24 annual report statistics, there were 13,382 NHS negligence claims settled in the latest financial year. To see whether you can make a hospital negligence claim against the NHS yourself, please contact us today.
How To Sue A Hospital For Medical Negligence
If you’ve never made a compensation claim before, you may not know how to sue a hospital for medical negligence. The first step you can make is to contact us to confirm whether you have an eligible hospital negligence claim or not.
While instructing a solicitor isn’t mandatory, it’s recommended that you instruct one to help you get the claims process started. This is because they can do all of the hard legal work for you.
Our panel of medical negligence lawyers in particular can:
- Offer you a No Win No Fee service.
- Gather your evidence.
- Sort out rehabilitation for you and communicate with physiotherapists, psychologists, occupational therapists, and other specialists.
- Communicate with the courts and other relevant parties.
- Set up an independent medical assessment.
- Explain legal terms.
- Talk you through each step of the claims process so that you can get a better understanding.
- Negotiate a settlement.
- Help you with applying for interim payments.
To find out whether you can receive these services, please contact us today.
How Can I Prove Hospital Negligence?
You can prove hospital negligence by providing evidence that shows how you’ve suffered avoidable harm as a result of receiving substandard care.
Such evidence includes:
- Copies of your medical records and any doctors’ notes, specifically detailing the substandard care you received, what avoidable harm you’ve suffered, and the impact this harm has had on you.
- A diary with recordings of what treatment you need and what symptoms you have.
- Witness contact details from anyone who was there with you when you received substandard care.
- Photos of your avoidable harm.
- Copies of any correspondence you’ve had with the hospital responsible for the negligence.
Gathering evidence is a very important part of the hospital negligence claims process, and is included within our panel’s services. If you would like help gathering your evidence, please chat to us today.
How Long Do I Have To Make A Claim?
Generally, you have 3 years to make a medical negligence claim, as per the Limitation Act 1980. These 3 years begin from the date negligence occurred.
Although, the time limit won’t begin for claimants who are either:
- Younger than 18 years old.
- Mentally incapacitated.
If a claim isn’t made on their behalf by the time the claimant either:
- Turns 18.
- Regains their mental capacity.
Then the 3-year time limit will begin (from either the date of their 18th birthday, or the date their mental capacity was recovered).
For more information on the hospital negligence claims time limit, please feel free to have a chat with us.
Finding The Right No Win No Fee Medical Negligence Solicitors
When finding the right No Win No Fee solicitors, you want someone who is reputable and has a lot of knowledge in winning hospital negligence claims.
Our panel of solicitors are highly reputable and have:
- Years of high-level education and training.
- Decades of experience combined.
- Expertise in hospital negligence claims.
- Won countless claims from all over the country.
- Provided a high standard of customer service for their clients.
On top of that, the specific No Win No Fee service our panel of solicitors offer is a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), which means there are:
- No upfront solicitor fees.
- No solicitor fees throughout the entirety of the claims process.
- No solicitor fees if the medical negligence claim is unsuccessful.
Instead, your solicitor will keep a minor percentage of your medical negligence compensation if the claim is successful. This minor percentage is called the ‘success fee’ and has a legal cap of 25%, which ensures that you at least keep 75% of the compensation all for yourself.
Contact Medical Negligence Claims Care
Don’t wait to contact us if you believe you have an eligible hospital negligence claim. Our lines are free to use and live 24/7:
- Call 0113 460 1216.
- Or, fill out the ‘Contact Us’ form.
More Information
View more information through some of our other medical negligence claims guides here:
- Find out how long a medical negligence claim could take to conclude.
- How to make a retained foreign object claim.
- Find out how much compensation could be claimed for GP negligence.
Additionally, you might find these pages helpful.
- NHS – learn what ‘never events‘ are.
- Care Quality Commission (CQC) – find a hospital and check its quality of care.
- General Medical Council (GMC) – find out what good medical practice is expected from doctors.
We hope this guide about hospital negligence claims has been useful for you. Don’t forget we’re open 24/7 to answer any queries you have.