As a critical component of healthcare throughout England, The National Health Service (NHS) treats an estimated 1 million individuals every 36 hours for injuries, illnesses, and other medical emergencies. It’s highly likely that throughout a lifetime, you or a family member will need to interact with NHS and its doctors and staff to ensure you are in the best possible health. While you should feel confident that the care you receive during your time in an NHS facility will be beneficial to your overall quality of life, things sometimes go wrong.
The number of patients treated in the NHS is expected to increase in coming years thanks to a growing population. As more people lean on the system to receive the care they need, the potential for increased wait times and interaction with overworked, stressed out staff also grows. Although you can still anticipate receiving the highest quality care through NHS, there are times when things do not go exactly as planned. If a situation occurs where you or a loved one do not receive the best from NHS, we are here to help you through. As solicitors who understand the complexities of the system given its size and layered structure, we provide the representation you need to help get the answers you deserve. There is no financial risk to you because we work on a no win, no fee basis, and we are by your side every step of the way to make sure you get the care you need.
Even though your experience with the NHS should be expected to go as smoothly as possible, errors in medical treatment, whether for injury or illness, surgeries, prescriptions, emergency services, or end of life care sometimes take place. Although the following NHS negligence examples represent the most common issues that come up, the list does not cover all possible circumstances you or a family member may face. If you have experienced something similar or feel as though something did not go as expected, it’s likely you have a strong case for a compensation claim
Surgical Negligence
More than 4 million surgeries are performed within the NHS each year, and that leaves ample room for errors to take place. Even though there is a degree of risk with any major surgery, you may have a case for an NHS negligence claim if miscommunication or a breach of duty of care took place leading to a wrong site surgery, foreign objects left in the body, or issues with anaesthesia dosage. Each of these, unfortunately, common NHS surgery mistakes can lead to ongoing pain, infection, or even death.
Errors in Prescriptions
Several different providers throughout the NHS have the ability to write prescriptions for a course of treatment. Whether it is your GP, a prescriber nurse, a specialist, or your pharmacist, errors in prescriptions can have devastating results. An incorrect dosage, the wrong medication, or a failure to explain the side effects or interactions with other prescriptions can take place at any point in care received from NHS facilities.
Wrong Medical Advice
In some cases, providers may offer up medical advice that isn’t appropriate or adequate to treat your illness. Wrong medical advice could include not sharing alternatives for treatment or prescriptions, or providing advice on a condition that isn’t the underlying cause of your symptoms. If this happens, you could face unnecessary or avoidable outcomes that reduce your ability to get better.
NHS Misdiagnosis
Numerous cases of misdiagnosis take place within the NHS in a variety of ways. A severe misdiagnosis involves your provider getting your condition wrong or failing to diagnose any issue altogether. Partial misdiagnosis, on the other hand, means your doctor got it right but did not determine the subtype of your condition correctly. In either case of misdiagnosis, treatment can be seriously delayed or incorrect to the point it results in a severely negative outcome.
NHS Never Events
Within the NHS, never events occur when an error that was completely avoidable takes place. This could mean a wrong site surgery or amputation, leaving foreign objects in the body during surgery, a medication error, or even pressure ulcers. While never events vary in how much impact they have on your health, they represent a clear case for NHS negligence. Making a claim for compensation against the NHS due to a complication with surgery, errors in prescription medication, wrong medical advice, misdiagnosis or a never event is the best way to receive what is owed to you so that you can continue the care you may need. Receiving less than quality medical care is not something you should be forced to deal with on your own, nor is it something you should be burdened with for the rest of your life. That’s why we’re here. NHS negligence can be an unfortunate situation that brings out a great deal of frustration and concern in those who have experienced it. We have seen customers struggle with the feelings of betrayal and a sense of powerlessness against such a large health system, making it difficult to understand and work toward a solution. Fortunately, with us on your side, you don’t have to face a claim against the NHS for negligence on your own. We work diligently to get the details of your experience, and our experienced solicitors know what it takes to get you the results you and your family need.