Advice On Claims Against The NHS For Medical Negligence – NHS Claims Guide

By Marlon Madison. Last Updated 17th February 2023. In this guide, we provide advice on what steps to consider if you have evidence to support a medical negligence claim and you have questions along the lines of ‘can I claim against the NHS?’ If you can prove that you’ve been harmed due to negligent care by the National Health Service (NHS), you could be entitled to receive compensation. This NHS compensation payouts guide is for anyone who needs advice on NHS medical negligence claims. There are certain procedures to follow if you wish to make a medical/clinical negligence compensation claim against a medical expert or NHS hospital.

NHS medical negligence claims

Read on to learn more about the steps you need to follow when making a medical negligence claim. We’ll also explain the circumstances that can justify a claim against the NHS. We also explain how you can get expert advice and support for your potential medical negligence claim.

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At UK Law, we can help to answer any questions you may have about the requirements for making valid NHS medical negligence claims. Are you looking specifically for advice on questions such as ‘how can I make successful claims against the NHS?’ if you have evidence to support this type of claim? If so, our advisors can answer any queries you may have about this specific type of claim.

You’re more than welcome to get in touch with us for free specialist advice. You can contact us online through our live chat service or by filling in our claim online form. Alternatively, you can reach us on the phone by calling 020 3870 4868

Services And Information

Everything You Need To Know About Advice On NHS Medical Negligence Claims
What Is A Claim Against The NHS?
When Could You Claim Against The NHS?
Calculating Compensation For NHS Medical Negligence Claims
NHS Resolution Compensation
Proving Negligent Medical Care By The NHS
How Much Time Do I Have To Claim Against The NHS
Successful Claims Against The NHS – What Evidence Is Needed?
Medical Negligence Solicitors – No Win No Fee Medical Negligence Claims
Contact Us For More Help After Reading This NHS Compensation Payouts Guide
Other Information Relating To This NHS Compensation Payouts Guide
FAQs About NHS Medical Negligence

Everything You Need To Know About Advice On NHS Medical Negligence Claims

If you experience an injury or illness through medical negligence in the UK, then it may have occurred while under the care of the NHS.

The NHS has a duty of care for every single patient they treat. Things can, however, sometimes go wrong when a patient is under the care of the NHS and injury and/or illness can follow.

You could be entitled to compensation from the NHS if it can be proven that someone in the organisation acted negligently and it directly caused you an injury or illness.

Before starting a potential compensation claim against the NHS, it is important to consider the circumstances which justify such action. It’s also important to understand the process you may need to follow when gathering the evidence needed to support potentially successful claims against the NHS.

Contact US After Reading This NHS Compensation Payouts Guide

If you have any questions while reading this guide, please don’t hesitate to get in touch on the number at the top of this page.

What Is A Claim Against The NHS?

You can make a claim against the NHS if you can demonstrate that negligence on the part of an NHS healthcare provider caused your injury, illness or a worsening of your condition. In order for you to be able to claim, you’d need to show that the negative repercussions would not have occurred were it not for the healthcare provider’s negligence. Medical negligence claims such as these are made across the country every year.

The graph below shows the relevant figures. As you can see, clinical negligence claims cost the NHS £2,209 million in 2020/21. these figures have been taken from the NHS Annual Resolution Report for this period.

When Could You Claim Against The NHS?

You could be entitled to make a compensation claim against the NHS if you can evidence that you suffered harm following a breach in the duty of care that was owed to you. Medical negligence by the NHS can come in different forms and lead to various issues. You may suffer an injury or illness as a result of medical negligence. Or an existing injury or illness may be made worse as a consequence.

Reasons for starting a medical negligence claim against the NHS could include one of the following:

You contracted an infection while receiving treatment
Treatment was received late and your health deteriorated as a result
You were not warned about the risks of a particular treatment
An error was made while you were receiving surgical treatment
You received a treatment you did not consent to
Your condition was misdiagnosed and your health deteriorated as a result
You received the wrong medication for your condition
There were issues during childbirth that caused birth injury to the mother and/or child

NHS Compensation Payouts Guide – Negligence That Could Lead To Successful Claims Against The NHS

Below, we give more examples of the potential types of NHS negligence. This list is not exhaustive.

GP negligence claims

A GP, just like any other NHS professional would owe you a duty of care. If they breach that duty of care by way of misdiagnosis of an illness or injury, missed diagnosis or failure to refer you when they should have, this could harm you. If you can prove that their negligence led to you suffering harm, you could be eligible for compensation.

Walk-in centre negligence claims

If you visit an NHS walk-in centre, for treatment for a minor injury or illness, you would expect a safe standard of care. If the medical professionals, whether doctors or nurses, were negligent, this could lead you to suffer harm.

Dental negligence claims

If a dentist missed the signs of oral cancer, it could lead you to suffer more harm than you would have. If so, you could claim dental negligence compensation for this.

Missed fracture negligence claims

You could also claim compensation if a fracture was missed by medical professional when it should have been spotted. In such cases, you would be able to claim for the undue harm you had suffered because of the missed fracture. This could be extra surgeries that you would not have had to have, further pain and suffering or long-term problems.

These are just a few examples.

NHS Compensation Payouts Guide – How To Know If It’s Negligence

These are just some examples of the possible reasons why someone would want to start a clinical negligence claim against the NHS. Regardless of the exact circumstances, there are a few key questions that need to be answered to determine if a claim against the NHS has a realistic chance of success.

Did your injury/illness occur due to the NHS breaching the duty of care it owed to you?
Can you prove that the negligent behaviour occurred?
Are you able to show that the negligent behaviour directly caused or contributed to the injury/illness you’ve suffered?

If you are able to answer yes to all of these questions above, then you likely have a strong case for claiming compensation. Feel free to contact UK Law now if you need more advice on NHS medical negligence claims.

Calculating Compensation For NHS Medical Negligence Claims

You may be wondering how much compensation you could realistically receive when claiming against the NHS. The answer to this is that it depends on the circumstances of your case.

Numerous factors are usually taken into account when compensation is being worked out for a medical negligence case. These can include the injuries and illnesses you’ve suffered from negligence, the severity of those issues and financial losses caused directly by the medical negligence.

Hospital Negligence Claims Payouts

If a medical professional’s actions led to you suffering from unnecessary harm, you could seek compensation for the physical, mental or emotional toll this took on you under general damages.

As illnesses can affect people in different ways, we cannot give you an exact estimate of what a payout in your medical negligence claim could look like. We can however provide you with examples of general damages from previous court claims to show you how an illness or injury can be valued.

Our figures come from a publication called the Judicial College Guidelines, which is the document that legal professionals may use to initially value your condition.

Edit
Injury	Severity	Compensation
Psychiatric Damage Generally	Severe	£54,830 to £115,730
Psychiatric Damage Generally	Moderately Severe	£19,070 to £54,830
Psychiatric Damage Generally	Moderate	£5,860 to £19,070
Psychiatric Damage Generally	Less Severe	£1,540 to £5,860
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder	Severe	£59,860 to £100,670
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder	Moderately Severe	£23,150 to £59,860
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder	Moderate	£8,180 to £23,150
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder	Less Severe	£3,950 to £8,180
Illness/Damage Resulting from Non-traumatic Injury	Severe	£38,430 to £52,500
Illness/Damage Resulting from Non-traumatic Injury	Serious But Short-Lived	£9,540 to £19,200
Illness/Damage Resulting from Non-traumatic Injury	Significant Discomfort For A Few Weeks	£3,950 to £9,540
Illness/Damage Resulting from Non-traumatic Injury	Disabling Pain For Some Days Or Weeks	Up to £3,950
Mental Anguish	Fear Of Impending Death/Reduction In Expectation Of Life	£3,670

The following sections go into more detail about how compensation in medical negligence payouts are calculated, and the other forms of compensation you can request. However, if you are looking for direct information about hospital negligence claims and how payouts can be assessed, then please reach out to a member of our free legal advice team.

NHS Payouts for Negligence – What Affects Your Compensation Amount?

Successful claims against the NHS will depend on the evidence a claimant can provide. You can gather evidence of your financial losses and the severity of your injury to help support your claim.

As explained, general damages will be assessed directly in line with the severity of your injury. It is important to have received a thorough medical examination to make sure your injury and its severity is correctly identified in your claim.

A personal injury solicitor can help you arrange an independent medical assessment. This can help produce an accurate report of your injury, and information about any further complications it could lead to in the future. This can be used in your claim and help you claim the right amount of compensation.

If you were harmed by medical negligence, please reach out to an advisor. They could give you more information about when claims against the NHS can be made and the payouts for negligence the NHS has awarded in the past.

NHS Compensation Payouts Guide – Special Damages Explained

In addition to general damages like the examples above, your compensation may cover financial losses under special damages. Examples of losses your compensation could cover under special damages may include:

Money spent on medical care which treated injuries or illness caused by the negligence.
The cost of travel required to receive the necessary medical care.
Loss of earnings if the NHS negligence you suffered caused you to take unpaid time off work.

If you are considering a claim against the NHS, you can contact UK Law to receive a more precise estimate of your potential compensation.

NHS Resolution Compensation

When a medical negligence claim is made against the NHS, it is usually represented by a section of the organisation called NHS Resolution (previously called the NHS Litigation Authority).

NHS Resolution (or NHSR for short) maintains a database of all NHS medical negligence claims. This includes potential claims and recorded incidents where legal action hasn’t been started yet, but the patient involved has indicated they are going to claim.

Proving Negligent Medical Care By The NHS

You may be asking yourself a question along the lines of ‘can you claim against the NHS?’

If you have good reason to believe the NHS has behaved negligently towards you, the answer is likely yes. To succeed with your claim, you’ll need to show that the treatment you received from the organisation was delivered in a negligent manner. That means the care fell below reasonably expected standards.

To do this, it may be necessary to utilise the Bolam Test. This involves proving that the treating practitioner acted in a way that a responsible body of medical professionals in the same field would regard as unacceptable. If they did not act in a way that their peers would have done, this could be evidence of negligence.

You also need to show that the negligent behaviour directly caused or contributed to any injuries or illnesses which you are claiming for.

How Much Time Do I Have To Claim Against The NHS

The general time limit regarding starting a medical negligence claim is 3 years from the date of the injury. This is stated in the Limitation Act 1980.

However, this time limit can be adjusted for various reasons. One of these reasons can be especially relevant to NHS medical negligence claims. This is because the effects of negligent behaviour by a medical professional are not always noticed right away. For example, you may have been misdiagnosed.

This could lead to you being prescribed the wrong medication. Taking this incorrect medication may only negatively impact your health after a certain length of time. Because of this, there may not be a definitive date you were injured. So, as an alternative, some claimants can use their “date of knowledge” as the start of their 3 -year time limit.

NHS Compensation Payouts Guide – Child Injury Claims

The time limit can also work slightly differently if the injured party is under 18. Children cannot make a medical negligence claim themselves. For this reason, their time limit is suspended. That means there is no time limit for their claim to be made until they reach adulthood.

However, during this time, their claim can only be made for them by a litigation friend. This is an adult representative who must prove to the court that they have the child’s best interests at heart. It may be a parent or guardian, but this is not a requirement. It can also be another relative, a family friend, or even a legal professional.

The litigation friend is not awarded any NHS medical negligence payouts directly if the case is successful. Compensation would be transferred into a bank account that only the child can access, and only from their 18th birthday.

Withdrawals before this date can be applied for. However, a judge must be able to establish that the withdrawals are to the direct benefit of the child.

Should the injured child wish to make a claim themselves, they can do so. But, this is only possible once they turn 18, provided a claim has already been made. This is also the date that their 3-year time limit would begin if the claim has not already been made for them.

NHS Medical Negligence Claims On Behalf Of Those With A Reduced Mental Capacity

If you want to make a claim against the NHS for medical negligence, the time limit can also be suspended for those with a reduced mental capacity. The inability to make a claim for themselves could be due to their injuries, or it could be due to circumstances that predate the incident of medical negligence.

Regardless, their time limit will only begin in the event that their mental capacity returns to a point where they are deemed able to make a claim themselves. Before this time, the claim can only be made for them by a litigation friend.

Successful Claims Against The NHS – What Evidence Is Needed?

You may be wondering, ‘is it possible to claim against the NHS?’. Compensation payouts can be awarded for medical negligence if sufficient evidence is provided. In order to receive medical negligence payouts, we would advise gathering the following evidence:

Medical records – copies of your medical records from hospitals or clinics, including your GP records, can offer concrete evidence of your injuries
Witness details – you should obtain the contact details of any witnesses so a solicitor can take a statement at a later date
Correspondence details – If you have made a formal complaint, they will have to record this complaint

Our panel of personal injury solicitors are experienced in successfully getting clients medical negligence payouts. Find out if you could make a claim with our team by completing the call back form at the top of this page and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible.

Medical Negligence Solicitors – No Win No Fee Medical Negligence Claims

You may wish to seek legal assistance for making a claim but are concerned about the costs. That’s why our panel of solicitors can work on the terms of an agreement known as No Win No Fee. Medical negligence solicitors that operate on this basis generally require no upfront fee to begin working on your case.

Furthermore, you’ll only need to pay your solicitor a success fee if they are able to help you secure compensation. The percentage that solicitors take is deducted from your compensation and is legally capped.

Our advisors can assess the eligibility of your medical negligence claim if you get in touch. Where there are sufficient grounds, you could be connected to a medical negligence solicitor from our panel who can begin your claim for NHS negligence.

Contact Us For More Help After Reading This NHS Compensation Payouts Guide

Are you looking for advice on questions such as ‘can I make an NHS medical negligence claim?’ At UK Law, we can support a wide range of medical negligence claims when there is evidence to support them. We can provide specialist advice for free in response to any queries you may have about claiming compensation. If you have questions after reading this guide which addresses popular queries including potential NHS compensation payouts for valid claims, you are welcome to contact us through one of the following methods:

By completing our online claim form
Through our online live chat service
By completing our online call back form
By calling us on 020 3870 4868

Other Information Relating To This NHS Compensation Payouts Guide

Looking for more information that could prove useful when making a medical negligence claim? If so, you can make use of the resources linked to below:

A guide to medical negligence compensation claims

In this guide, we look into how different types of medical negligence claims work. This includes cases where you may wish to claim against a private healthcare provider, rather than the NHS.

Can you sue on behalf of someone else?

You may wish to start a medical negligence claim on behalf of someone else (like a child). If so, you can check out the guide linked above to learn more about representing another person when making a personal injury claim.

First aid negligence claims

This guide explains how you could receive compensation for injuries caused to you while administering first aid.

NHS Constitution – Interactive version

This PDF is an interactive version of the NHS constitution. This detailed document includes many hyperlinks which provide additional info on different aspects of the constitution.

General Medical Council- Duties of a Doctor

This outlines the duties that a good doctor is expected to adhere to in order to meet the expected standards.

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP)

Your declining health caused by medical negligence might mean that you have to take time off work. This page could help you determine whether you could receive SSP if you’ve not been paid in full for the time you have had to take off.

FAQs About NHS Medical Negligence

Can you sue the NHS for medical negligence?

You are entitled to claim compensation from the NHS if you can prove that an injury or illness you’ve suffered was caused by medical negligence on the part of the organisation.

What qualifies as medical negligence?

Medical negligence is when a medical professional delivers substandard care to a patient, causing them to suffer an injury or illness. It may alternatively (or in addition) cause an existing condition the patient has to become worse.

How much compensation do you get for medical negligence UK?

The amount of potential compensation given for a medical negligence case in the UK can vary wildly. It depends heavily on the type and severity of the injuries and illnesses suffered due to negligent behaviour.

If, after reading this guide on NHS compensation payouts and the questions people may ask regarding them, you still have any queries on this topic, you can contact UK Law for help. You can reach our advisors online or on the phone using the contact details featured within this guide.

UK Law – Medical Negligence Claims