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Clinical & Medical Negligence Claims Solicitors

Medical Negligence at a Glance

  • Medical negligence claims can be made against health professionals such as doctors and dentists, as well as against NHS Trusts.
  • Compensation is awarded when it can be proven that an injury was caused by treatment that no other group of professionals in the same field would have considered acceptable.
  • Negligent treatment can have severe and life-changing consequences. They can have long-term health and financial implications.
  • The majority of our medical negligence claims are funded on a No Win No Fee basis.
  • Contact us if you think you have a potential claim for medical negligence.

Specialist Medical Negligence Solicitors

Pryers Solicitors specialise in medical negligence claims. Since we were established in 2002, our expert team has represented clients in a wide range of claims, for clients all over England and Wales.

If you, or a relative, have been injured by negligent treatment, we could help you too. Our aim is always to get you the maximum amount of compensation, in the shortest amount of time.

For free, no obligation advice, just call us on 01904 409720, or contact us by email.

You can make a medical negligence claim when a doctor, nurse or other healthcare professional has made a serious and inexcusable mistake, and that mistake has caused harm. It is also called clinical negligence, or medical malpractice.

Without medical and legal training it can be hard to know if you have a claim, because not all mistakes are serious enough to sue a doctor or nurse. To get compensation, you need to prove: –

  • The treatment you received was so poor that no other healthcare professional would consider it acceptable or reasonable. This is legally termed as ‘negligence’; and
  • That this treatment caused significant injury or harm. This is called ‘causation’.

You will therefore be entitled to compensation for your injures and financial losses if you can prove both these points.

Sometimes treatment is unsuccessful. But this does not necessarily mean it was negligent.

Medical negligence is a complex area of law. If you or a relative feel let down, let us to take the stress out of the situation. Our experienced team will advise you if we can represent you on a No Win No Fee basis, for free. All you need to do is call us on 01904 409720 or contact us by email, for a no obligation consultation.

Medical negligence solicitors help injured people claim compensation for injuries sustained as a result of mistakes in medical treatment. At Pryers we do this on a No Win No Fee basis.

There are a variety of reasons that you might want to make a claim.

Above all, the claims process is designed to compensate people who have been injured by negligence. Compensation is intended to help injured people return to a normal life, and to make up for any losses. It is therefore perfect if you are looking for financial help because of negligence.

doctor examining x-ray of the human spine

On the other hand, many people come to us looking for answers, or an apology. Sometimes your questions will be answered by our investigations. And sometimes the person the claim is against will apologise. But these are often side-effects of the process to get compensation. Unfortunately, there is not a process that allows us to help you with just these things.

If you have not suffered a significant injury, or are only wanting answers, you might want to consider making a complaint. If you have made a complaint and are not happy with the response, contact us and our team will advise how we can help.

You can represent yourself in a medical negligence claim, but we do not recommend it. The combination of medical and legal knowledge required makes them very complex.

Proving that you are entitled to compensation depends on using the relevant legal tests for negligence and causation. Assessing how much compensation you should be awarded relies on accessing and understanding the appropriate legal guidance. Obtaining expert evidence can be expensive and requires that you ask the right questions. The court process itself can be difficult to navigate and cases can fail due to procedural errors.

NHS Trusts and healthcare professionals are usually represented by specialist lawyers. So, to give yourself the best chance of success, you should be too. Instructing Pryers means that you will benefit from our extensive knowledge and our No Win No Fee agreement.

All you need to do to get started is contact us by email, or call us on 01904 409720. Our highly trained staff will then assess your claim and advise how we can help, for free. Being injured because of negligence is stressful enough, so leave the rest to us.

Read our claim guide if you’d like to know more about what happens after you start a medical negligence claim.

You have three years from the date that you first became aware that you might have been injured by poor medical treatment.

This time period does not always begin on the day of the poor treatment. It might be a while before you suspect, or have reason to suspect, that you have suffered additional harm because of a negligent mistake.  If so, the three year time limit would run from that later date.

There are two exceptions to this:

  1. If you were under the age of 18 at the time of the negligence. In this instance the three years runs from your 18th birthday.
  2. If the patient has lacked mental capacity to be able to instruct solicitors. In this case the time limit will not start to run until they regain capacity.

If a claim is made, court proceedings must be started within the three-year period.  It’s important that you do not delay. Before a claim can be issued at court, a number of things need to be done to prepare it. So you are better to seek advice sooner, rather than later.

It can be difficult to determine when these time limits begin and end – particularly in medical negligence claims. It’s crucial that you get it right, because you will not be able to make a claim if you are outside the time limit. It does not matter how strong the rest of the evidence in your claim is.  Therefore, if you have any concerns about the time limits involved in medical negligence claims, our team would be happy to help you.  Contact us by email or call us on 01904 409720 today.

Here’s how Pryers help our clients get the compensation they deserve in a medical negligence claim:

Free, no obligation initial consultation.

We begin with a free assessment to advise whether we can take on your claim on a No Win No Fee basis.

Obtain your medical records

In a medical negligence claim, your medical records are essential. Along with your witness evidence, they help to show what treatment you have received and injuries you have suffered.

With your consent, we will write to the relevant organisations to obtain copies of your medical records.

Obtain Medical evidence

Once we have your medical records, we will arrange for them to be reviewed by an independent medical expert. This expert will write a report about the treatment you received. Independent medical evidence from an expert in a relevant field is essential in medical negligence claims.

We often need reports from several experts, in different specialties. Pryers will take care of gathering the evidence needed.

Communicate with the Defendant

If the expert evidence supports your case, we will write to the doctor, hospital, NHS Trust or other health professional responsible, telling them exactly what we think they did wrong and what harm that caused.

We must give them the chance to review our allegations before we begin the court process. They must then respond with a decision on liability.

If they admit fault, or agree to pay compensation, we will gather evidence about your financial losses and begin to negotiate a settlement.

If they deny fault and we disagree with their objections, we will gather more evidence and will debate the issues in your case. We will also obtain details of your financial losses and will work hard to negotiate the right settlement for you.

Start court proceedings

Issuing the claim at court does not mean you will have to give evidence at trial. The vast majority of claims settle without a trial.

The court give instructions and a timetable for the rest of the claim once it is issued at court. This will include instructions for the parties to disclose their evidence to the opponent. An agreement is often reached after the parties have exchanged evidence.

The amount of compensation awarded is different in every claim. Awards can vary from £1,000 to £30m and depend on the injury, and its consequences on that person. So, even if someone suffered similar injuries to you, their compensation will be based on their individual circumstances, so might differ to yours.

Your compensation is meant to put you back to how you would have been if the negligence had not happened, so far as money can.

To try and ensure consistency, compensation for injuries is based on guidelines published by the Judicial College and reports of similar cases that have been decided by the courts.

Compensation is also available for financial losses, such as:

  • Lost earnings from being unable to work, in the past or future;
  • Medication costs incurred because of the negligence;
  • Care and assistance needed to support you;
  • Additional medical costs.

Our expert team will help you make sure that you receive all of the compensation you are entitled to, in the quickest possible time.

The NHS, or National Health Service, is the predominant healthcare provider in the United Kingdom. A healthcare provider owes a duty of care to their patients. When a breach of this duty results in an injury, a negligence claim can be made.

The NHS recognise that occasionally things go wrong. There is a body of the Department of Health and Social Care tasked with investigating and resolving compensation claims. They also set aside a substantial amount of money to pay for the mistakes which will inevitably happen.

You do not claim against the NHS itself. You claim against local NHS Trusts who operate hospitals and provide other NHS services.

Specialist Areas of Medical Negligence

Medical Negligence Success Stories

Informed consent: patient’s rights ignored by surgeon

Nigel Brigg approached Pryers to claim compensation after a surgeon failed to get his informed consent before he had hip resurfacing surgery. Osteoarthritis prevents sportsmanship Nigel is a retired teacher and has always enjoyed sports and staying active. As a man in his sixties, he was proud of his many sporting achievements at competition level […]

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Negligent gall bladder surgery causes nurse’s death

Lee Grainger approached Pryers on behalf of his wife following negligent gall bladder surgery under her own employer (a hospital). Negligent gall bladder surgery Moira, a nurse, visited her GP complaining of abdominal pain. The GP suggested that she went for an MRI scan, which showed multiple gallstones. In order to treat her gallstones, doctors […]

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Skin graft infection leads to hip amputation

Skin graft infection leads to hip amputation Pamela Green needed her right hip amputating at the age of 66 due to the spread of a skin graft infection from her thigh. She came to Pryers to claim compensation that would allow her to live more comfortably. Previous radiotherapy treatment 45 years earlier, Pamela had a […]

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