Most people have, at one time or another, received medical care. Unfortunately, it isn’t unheard of for someone to receive treatment that falls short of the standard expected of medical professionals. If that substandard treatment causes needless harm, the affected patient could have the right to make a medical negligence compensation claim.

In this comprehensive guide on medical negligence claims, you will learn about, among other things:

• How to work out if you are eligible to claim.
• How long you have to submit your case.
• The likelihood of a case going to court.
• What different factors a medical negligence compensation payout can address.

Our panel of specialist medical negligence solicitors are well-versed in helping their clients get a settlement that suits them. Read through to the end of the guide to learn how they offer this support on a No Win No Fee basis, or use the ‘Browse our guide’ feature below to go straight there.

You can also get guidance, as well as a free case evaluation, from our advisors. All you need to do to reach us is choose one of the below options:

• Call our 24/7 helpline on 020 3870 4868.
• Stay online to contact us and an advisor will call you.
• Use the live chat tab in the corner of your screen.

Browse Our Guide

1. What Is A Medical Negligence Claim? 
2. What Types of Negligence Could Lead To A Medical Negligence Claim?
3. How Do I Prove A Medical Negligence Claim?
4. What Is A Patient Recall Letter?
5. Will My Medical Negligence Case Need To Go To Court?
6. How Long Do I Have To Start A Medical Negligence Case?
7. Can I Claim Medical Negligence Compensation On Someone Else’s Behalf?
8. Can I Claim Compensation While Still Receiving Treatment?
9. What Could My Medical Negligence Payout Be?
10. Can I Claim For The Long Term Impact Of Medical Negligence?
11. How Do I Claim For Negligent Medical Treatment On A No Win No Fee Basis?
12. Learn More About Medical Negligence Claims

What Is A Medical Negligence Claim?

People trained to provide medical treatment are known as medical professionals. There are many different types of medical professional, including:

• GPs.
• Nurses.
• Doctors.
• Specialists, such as anaesthetists or clinical technicians.
• Surgeons.
• Midwives.
• Pharmacists.

They must all provide care to the correct standard in order to maintain the duty of care they owe their patients. Depending on their field, a professional could look to a certain regulator or medical body to understand what the right standards are. For example, a doctor can look at the good medical practice recommended by their regulator, the General Medical Council (GMC).

It’s important to bear in mind that incorrect treatment doesn’t immediately make a medical professional negligent. Medical negligence is defined as a professional straying from the standards expected of them and causing a patient to suffer avoidable harm.

You may have also heard the term ‘clinical negligence’. It’s important to note that it means essentially the same thing as medical negligence in a legal context, so don’t be concerned if you see a case described as a clinical negligence claim.

You can make a clinical or medical negligence claim if you can show that:

• You were owed a duty of care by a medical professional.
• They failed to provide care to the standard expected of a competent professional and breached this duty.
• As a result, you suffered harm that could have otherwise been avoided.

If you’ve read these criteria and believe that you’ve experienced medical negligence, just call us today.

What Types of Negligence Could Lead To A Medical Negligence Claim?

With there being different professionals carrying out a variety of roles, no medical negligence case is exactly the same.

Our panel’s solicitors are medical negligence experts and can handle many types of cases. The below are among some of the most commonly seen causes of a medical negligence claim.

Misdiagnosis Claims

A key stage of the treatment process is diagnosis. This is where a GP or doctor could run tests, analyse your charts or speak to you about your symptoms to determine what medical condition you need help with.

If substandard care leads to a misdiagnosis, you could get wrong or delayed treatment, making the existing condition worse as a result.

For example, tests on your thyroid are run incorrectly while you are being checked for potential cancer. You are misdiagnosed as a result, and this thyroid cancer misdiagnosis allows the cancer to spread and harm internal organs.

Medication Error Claims

After diagnosis, you might be prescribed medication to help you with your condition. These medicines might be given to you over the counter by a pharmacist or measured and administered by medical staff in a hospital.

A healthcare professional acting negligently could lead to a medication error, which in turn could cause a patient needless harm.

For example, a patient might make a medical negligence claim if a nurse mixed up their medication with someone else’s and gave them medicine containing an ingredient that causes a severe allergic reaction.

Birth Injury Claims

Medical professionals involved in childbirth need to be careful to ensure the mother and baby stay safe. Negligent treatment could lead to a birth injury for the baby, such as cerebral palsy. The mother might also be at risk if their care isn’t at the right standard.

For example, incorrect or overly forceful use of medical forceps could lead to an unnecessary broken bone injury for the baby and avoidable tearing for the mother that could result in various complications, such as incontinence. 

Claims for birth injuries are not uncommon. NHS Resolution, an arm’s-length body that helps NHS Trusts resolve clinical negligence compensation claims, explained as much in its 2023/24 annual report. The report stated that 41% of the £2.8 billion paid in clinical negligence damages and associated costs in 2023/24 related to maternity alone.

Surgical Error Claims

Certain surgeries carry more risk than others. This means that a breach of duty by a surgeon or any other health professionals involved in procedures could have disastrous results, even in procedures considered lower risk. 

Surgical negligence claims might arise from scenarios like unnecessary surgery leading to a wrongful amputation or paralysis after surgery caused by a negligent overdose administered by an anaesthetist.

Whatever medical malpractice you’ve experienced, our trained clinical negligence solicitors can help. Call the number at the top of this page and chat with an advisor to find out if you have a case for claiming compensation with a solicitor’s expert guidance.

How Do I Prove A Medical Negligence Claim?

Evidence is an important part of any medical negligence claim. Any proof you can collect related to negligent care and its effect on you could make the difference when it comes to proving a medical professional’s liability.

Among the types of evidence that could help you prove medical negligence are:

• Medical records. These can be used to highlight where negligence occurred and show the extent of the harm you’ve suffered since. You can request a copy of your health records from your GP. Private hospitals and healthcare practitioners can also provide a copy if requested.
• Records of your experience, including a diary or photographs of any visible issues.
• Correspondence between yourself and the healthcare practitioner regarding the treatment you received.
• Any test results. For example, if an X-ray or scan was misread, you may have been misdiagnosed.

You could instruct a medical negligence solicitor to help you put your evidence together. They can also help at the stage of a claim where expert insight is needed. That could involve organising an examination from an independent expert, or arranging a Bolam Test, which is where a panel of relevantly trained professionals give their opinion on whether the medical professional involved met their expected standard of care.

Learn more about the help offered by our panel’s medical negligence solicitors today by calling our helpline. You can also get more information on proving medical negligence for a compensation claim.

What Is A Patient Recall Letter?

You may have heard about patient recall letters, or you could have received one yourself.

A patient recall letter is sent to the patient by the relevant facility. This could be your local NHS Trust, private healthcare provider or public or private hospital you received treatment from.

It will ask you to come back in for a re-examination. Potentially, the letter could explain that the healthcare provider has identified an issue with your previous treatment. The NHS has a specific Recall Framework in place that requires a patient recall letter to be issued if malpractice is a concern.

A recall letter is not an admission of liability, but you may want to consider why you have been asked to come back. If you believe you have suffered medical negligence, you can speak to us today and have your potential claim analysed by an advisor.

Will My Medical Negligence Case Need To Go To Court?

Understandably, our advisors are often asked whether a claim will have to go through a lengthy court process. The good news on that front is that very few medical negligence cases need to go to court.

There are a series of steps known as the Pre-Action Protocol that are designed to help medical negligence claims find a resolution without the need for court proceedings.

In the interest of helping clients achieve a fair settlement with minimal delays and preventing unnecessary court fees, our panel of expert medical negligence solicitors will make every effort to resolve the case by following these steps.

Please don’t hesitate to call today if you’d like to learn more about the claims process and how a medical negligence solicitor could help things run smoothly.

How Long Do I Have To Start A Medical Negligence Case?

Your ability to claim depends on whether your case is still within the time limit set out by The Limitation Act 1980. You have three years to start a case, but the starting point for medical negligence claims could be one of two things:

• When the negligent treatment occurred.
• The date of knowledge, meaning when you learned that your harm was avoidable and caused or worsened due to substandard care by a medical practitioner.

The limitation period is paused if a person lacks the mental capacity to carry out a claim. Only a recovery will end this pause, and the general three-year timer will start from the recovery date.

Similarly, someone cannot claim for themselves while they are a minor under the age of 18. From the moment they turn 18, their claim window opens. It closes on their 21st birthday.

Someone’s inability to start their own claim during a pause does not mean that they have to wait until the pause period ends. Go to the next section to learn what a litigation friend is and how they can help.

Otherwise, call our helpline if you want to learn more about time limits or discuss your own limitation period for making a medical negligence claim.

Can I Claim Medical Negligence Compensation On Someone Else’s Behalf?

As we covered in the previous section, a minor or someone without sufficient mental capacity cannot start a claim. However, if you want to carry out a legal claim on their behalf, you can do so.

A litigation friend is a trusted person who is appointed by the courts to take on someone else’s claim. While a parent, other family member or spouse might want to take on this task, any adult who can act in the claimant’s best interests can apply.

Their role includes:

• Attending meetings with the claimant’s solicitor.
• Updating the claimant on every stage of the process.
• Ensuring all decisions made on the claimant’s behalf are in their best interests.

Our panel’s specialist medical negligence solicitors are experienced in working alongside litigation friends and would be there for you if you needed to seek legal advice on behalf of a claimant. Please don’t hesitate to call if you’re thinking of making a clinical negligence claim on someone else’s account and want to understand the process better.

Can I Claim Compensation While Still Receiving Treatment?

It isn’t uncommon for claimants to still be undergoing treatment while they claim. In fact, as the legal time limit doesn’t pause to allow treatment to be completed unless your mental faculties are impaired, it’s important to make sure your claim still begins in time.

A clinical negligence solicitor could help with this. For example, if substandard care led to you getting a delayed diagnosis, a solicitor can get your claim underway while you undergo your required treatment.

Furthermore, in certain cases, a solicitor could arrange for you to receive an interim payment during the claim so you can pay treatment or rehabilitation costs.

Call our free helpline if you’d like to learn more about the help a solicitor from our panel can provide if you want to claim while you’re still dealing with an injury or illness.

What Could My Medical Negligence Payout Be?

Your solicitor’s main aim would be to secure financial compensation that fairly addresses the different ways in which substandard care affected you. In medical negligence claims, a payout can be split into up to two parts. You may see these parts referred to as heads of loss.

General damages, the main head of loss in a payout, accounts for the likes of:

• Physical pain and mental harm inflicted or made worse due to negligent medical care.
• A loss of amenity, meaning an inability to enjoy life or carry out tasks in the same way you did before you suffered harm.
• The longer-term effect on your health and quality of life.

Those figuring out this part of the payment will take all of this into account. Medical evidence can help them, but they might also refer to the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG) for insight. This document is a collection of brackets giving a useful gudieline of what could be paid out for a variety of injuries or medical conditions.

We’ve taken some figures from the JCG to create the table you see below.

Guideline Compensation Table

While these JCG figures provide a general idea of how much compensation you might receive for different injuries or conditions, it is only a guide. Each payout is decided purely on a case-by-case basis. However, you may find this table useful as all but the top entry come from the JCG.

HARM SUFFERED	SEVERITY	COMPENSATION GUIDELINE
Multiple Cases Of Serious Harm Plus Financial Loss	Severe	Up to £1,000,000+
Paralysis	Paraplegia	£267,340 to £346,890
Brain Damage	Moderately Severe	£267,340 to £344,150
Kidney	Serious and permanent damage or loss of both kidneys	£206,730 to £256,780
Leg Amputation	Above-Knee Amputation of One Leg	£127,930 to £167,760
Bowels	Faecal Urgency and Passive Incontinence	In the region of £97,530
Bladder	Seriously Impaired Control	£78,080 to £97,540
Lung Disease	Breathing Difficulty Requiring Fairly Frequent Inhaler Use	£38,210 to £66,920
Impairment of Taste and Smell	Loss of Smell	£30,500 to £40,150
Arm	Simple Fractures of the Forearm	£8,060 to £23,430

Can I Claim For The Long Term Impact Of Medical Negligence?

Although some may find that the biggest impact of negligent care is on their health, others may find the financial damage more harmful. With that in mind, a medical negligence claim payout can feature a second head of loss, called special damages, where it is appropriate.

Special damages might form an even greater part of the payout than general damages, as it can account for the likes of:

• Medical expenses.
• Prescription costs.
• Travel charges.
• Fees paid to professionals providing home healthcare.
• Bills for home adaptation.
• Lost income from being unable to work.

As part of your claim, you will be asked to provide proof of your costs. You could save any invoices, receipts, bank statements and payslips to help ensure you receive the amount of medical negligence compensation that you are entitled to.

This list is not exhaustive, so please call if you want to discuss what else special damages can cover. When calling to discuss how to claim, an advisor can explain the work our panel’s medical negligence solicitors do in helping claimants get the best possible outcome.

How Do I Claim For Negligent Medical Treatment On A No Win No Fee Basis?

At this stage, you may be interested in working with a solicitor from our panel of experts. All you need to do is call for a free consultation to see if this is possible. If you have a valid case, you could get the legal guidance of a professional with a proven track record in handling claims.

When one of our panel’s medical negligence solicitors takes on a case, they offer a Conditional Fee Agreement (a type of No Win No Fee arrangement). This deal means you aren’t paying anything for their work right up until the outcome of the case. If your claim hasn’t been successful, there are no fees at all for the work they’ve done. This helps to minimise the financial risk of making a claim.

Winning a medical negligence claim entitles the solicitor to a success fee. Rather than you paying from your own pocket, they collect a small percentage of the compensation award.

As well as discussing their cut with you so you can agree on it before the case begins, our panel’s solicitors will ensure their percentage is within the legal cap set out by The Conditional Fee Agreements Order 2013.

Whether you’re sure you can claim or need help finding out, all you need to do is call. Our service is free and carries no obligation to claim, though an advisor can connect you to a solicitor from our panel with the right experience to help you seek compensation. Choose any of these options to begin:

• Call 020 3870 4868.
• Use our ’Contact us’ form.
• Open the live chat box below.

Learn More About Medical Negligence Claims

We have plenty of guides about medical negligence claims, like these:

• Our anaesthetic negligence guide explains when you can make a No Win No Fee claim.
• Read about claiming for a wrongful death in our fatal medication error claim guide.
• We explain how to report a doctor for negligent medical treatment.

Here are some further useful resources:

• NHS – how to complain about medical negligence to the NHS.
• A GOV.UK guide on claiming Statutory Sick Pay from your employer.
• An NHS A-Z of health conditions.

Thank you for reading our medical negligence compensation claim guide. If you want to get further guidance or talk about your potential claim, please call us for a free consultation today.