Clinical Negligence

Medical or clinical negligence is a broad term used to describe mistakes, accidents and poor care by medical staff, both NHS and private. It includes any medical treatment or investigations whether it is provided at hospitals, GP surgeries, health centres or even at home. Common types of medical negligence include misdiagnosis, surgical error, and patients being prescribed with incorrect medication or treatment which can contribute to making an existing illness or injury worse.

Legal claim for medical or dental negligence

Establishing clinical negligence can be extremely complex and the decision to pursue a legal claim should not be taken lightly.

In most cases when substandard treatment appears to have taken place, it is helpful to seek an explanation and where appropriate an apology through the NHS complaints procedure. This procedure can help to clarify important aspects of your care and enable us to advise you more fully.

Making an NHS complaint

Often clients contact us because they want an explanation for what has happened to them or their loved ones. Every NHS organisation has a complaints procedure, and this can usually be found on the organisation’s website.

To make a complaint, you will need to contact the complaints department at your local NHS board. The NHS is obliged to acknowledge receipt of your complaint and to investigate it in a timely manner.

Complaints about NHS services must be either:

Within 6 months of the date on which the matter, which is the subject of the complaint occurred, or
Within 6 months of the date on which the matter came to the notice of the complainant;
But normally no later than 12 months from the event.

Complaints received after this period may be investigated if the Chief Executive accepts that it would have been unreasonable for the complainant to make it earlier and where it is still possible to investigate the facts.

Funding

Bevirs Law operate a no win no fee funding arrangement which ensures all costs in the legal process are met by us throughout the case using our insurance product. This means we can fully investigate your case and use all the resources at our disposal to ensure you receive the maximum amount of compensation you are entitled to, without any financial risk to you.

Once you have been in touch with us about claiming compensation, we will follow up our initial discussion wherever possible by arranging a face to face meeting with you, either in our office, hospital or we are happy to come to your home. At this first meeting we will explain exactly what actions we will be taking, and the process involved in seeking financial compensation. We will also let you know what you can do to help us and explain more fully how we fund the case.

Contact

In the first instance please contact us. We are always happy to chat and give advice on your circumstances and the prospect of a legal remedy for the loss you have incurred.

You can contact Nicola Heales, Head of our Personal/Serious Injury Department, directly on 01249 814536 or by emailing This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Key Contacts

Nicola Heales

Consultant Solicitor

Head of Personal Injury and Medical Negligence

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Peter Shah

Partner

Litigation