When a medical professional fails in their duty of care to you, this is known as medical negligence (and or clinical negligence).
If their care was wrong, accidental or sub-standard care and causes you injury or makes your condition worse, then you will be eligible to claim. Ways that clinical carelessness can occur are a misdiagnosis, surgical errors or wrong medical management.
Medical negligence is different from personal injury as we must prove fault by the professional and avoidable harm caused. Sadly, medical negligence can cause life-changing effects, whether this is physical injury and or psychological trauma. If you or your family has been injured, then we are here to help you during this traumatic time. Our experienced solicitors will be there to guide you along the way.
How Do I Start a Complaint of Neglect against NHS?
If you have been injured due to negligence by an NHS organisation or a healthcare professional within the last 3 years, then you are eligible to make a complaint. Many people have good experiences with the NHS and the service they provide; however, mistakes can happen, which is why we are here to assist you. It can be daunting to complain against the NHS, but where professionals have been careless, or errors have occurred causing you injury, then they need to compensate you for their negligence.
There are two steps through which NHS complaints can be made. One must follow the steps accordingly.
In the first step, one can make a direct complaint to the NHS hospital or against the GP. The second step includes the Health Service Ombudsman.
- A Local Resolution:
Contact the NHS Trust, hospital or the GP about a copy of the complaint process, which describes how to make a complaint or how to proceed further.
Usually, while making a complaint, the first step is to compose a letter, but this will frequently follow a verbal complaint to the hospital or GP.
- The Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman:
If you are not satisfied with the response you get related to your claim, then you can complain to Parliamentary Health Service Ombudsman. The Ombudsman will fully consider each complaint they obtain.
Should I Make A Complaint?
The purpose of making a complaint is to try and put in a similar position to where you were before the act of medical negligence occurred. However when you make a claim for medical negligence you are also helping to highlight the lack of proper medical attention you obtained to decrease the danger of similar incident taking place to another patient.
Can I Obtain The Same Attention That I Am Getting At Present?
If you are getting treatment from the medical organisation for which you desire to generate a complaint against, you do not need to stop it; you can keep on receiving treatment. The law does not allow a GP or hospital to discontinue your treatment due to a complaint or claim. However, if you felt uneasy about continuing to be treated by the professional expert against whom you have made a complaint against, then you have the right to be referred to another organisation or doctor.
Will The Medical Professional Or Doctor Who Treated Me Lose Employment?
When you make a claim for medical negligence, it is possible that if the case is serious, the medical professional will undergo an investigation or disciplinary action. If the case is less severe, then it is possible that no action will be taken against the individual.
Our main aim as your representatives would be to have the organisation investigate the medical negligence in order to help rectify the error, make your situation better, compensate you but also so that there is not a repeat of such negligence again.
If we look at an example: the General Medical Council (GMC) looks for every registered medical expert to determine whether they are capable of practising clinical. If the General Medical Council (GMC) inspects a medical expert and consequences depict that the carelessness occurred again, or threatened the life, then they possibly will expect the authorisations to prevent them from working.
Will The Complaint Make Any Difference?
It is reasonable and helpful to make a complaint. When generating a claim against the NHS for medical negligence, you are highlighting the issues regarding care and processes that are in place in NHS and helping to stop the errors occurring in the future.
It is usual for the NHS to start an internal inquiry to distinguish how and when the damage occurred. This will hopefully lead to modifications in the process and security to stop similar things from happening again.
Deciding whether to file a complaint against NHS can be daunting, but if you have experienced an injury because of medical carelessness, you are eligible to make a complaint without any fear.
Taking Legal Action for Medical Negligence
You are also allowed to take legal action if you or your loved ones experienced medical negligence:
- Who died due to neglectful medical management?
- Who cannot take legal action by themselves as they don’t have such power?
You do not need to deploy the NHS complaint process before commencing legal action, but you can consider it as it will be useful to rule out much more regarding what occurred. You can make a knowledgeable verdict about whether to move further with a medical negligence case or not. If you are planning to take legal action regarding medical carelessness, you must obtain expert guidance.
If you start a claim for medical negligence, this should not inhibit or interrupt the complaint being scrutinised through the NHS complaints process.
Direct Solicitors is a firm who works on a No Win No Fee assurance, so the process of making a claim will be smooth as you do not have to pay any charges up front. You will only be charged if the solicitor wins the case and gets you the compensation you are entitled too.
