By Danielle Parsons. Last Updated 5th April 2023. Generally speaking, a hospital should be a safe place for patients to go when they develop injuries and illnesses. Whether the purpose of a person’s visit is for a routine check-up, emergency care or specific treatment, the correct precautions should be taken to ensure that any unnecessary harm coming to the patient is avoided. It is worth remembering that such cases of hospital negligence are of exceptional circumstances. For the majority of patients who visit hospitals, their experience will be of a satisfactory standard.
While the standard of care across NHS and private hospital departments is usually of reasonable quality, there is the potential for mistakes to be made. In such cases where a person has been injured as a result of negligent medical treatment while residing in a hospital, there may be legal grounds for a Cardiff hospital compensation payout. This could be for a variety of different negligence cases, some of which will be described in this guide.
You may feel left in the dark as a victim of hospital negligence with no sense of legal direction or trust in healthcare professionals. Throughout this guide will be various examples and case studies of medical negligence by the NHS in Cardiff hospitals. A personal injury solicitor could help you successfully receive a settlement for your injury or illness suffered at the mistakes of a negligent healthcare professional. Your choice in medical negligence lawyer could play a vital role in the progression of your injury claim, which is why it’s important to make the right decision when it comes to a legal representative. Picking the right solicitor could also mean that you have a chance at a higher Cardiff hospital compensation amount.
If you have been a victim of medical negligence by the NHS or private healthcare practices, you may be entitled to make a Cardiff hospital NHS trust compensation claim.
Choose A Section
- A Guide To Medical Negligence Claims Against Cardiff Hospital
- What Does Medical Negligence Mean?
- What Is Hospital Negligence
- Amounts Of Compensation Paid By Cardiff and Vale University Local Health Board
- Case Study – £19.8m Compensation Payout For Brain Injuries At Birth
- Claims Against Cardiff Hospital – What Are The Time Limits?
- How To Start A Cardiff University Hospital Compensation Claim
- Medical Experts We Work With In Cardiff
- No Win No Fee Medical Negligence Claims Against Cardiff Hospital
- Talk To Our Team
- References
A Guide To Medical Negligence Claims Against Cardiff Hospital
If you were unhappy with the service of treatment delivered to you by Cardiff hospital doctors, you may benefit from a no obligation consultation with an expert from our panel of medical negligence solicitors who are not based in Cardiff but can cover the area. Over a four year period, pay-outs rose from a little over £64m for 643 claims in 2013-14 to around £91.4m for 792 payments in 2017-18. This sum of Welsh NHS pay-outs equates to an estimated 1.5% of the total NHS Wales budget of £6bn. Further from this, it has also been reported that the biggest increase in total paid out cases from the Cardiff and Vale board, which more than tripled from £6.2m to £22.2m.
If you come to hiring a medical negligence lawyer, there are some vital factors you may want to consider which could determine the outcome of your claim. These may include:
- Location: Where are they based? Could you benefit from a legal representative outside of your local area?
- Experience: How experienced is your lawyer? Do they specialise in certain areas, or do they possess a broad spectrum of knowledge in medical negligence?
- Funding: How will you settle your legal fees? Could a No Win No Fee agreement be the most beneficial option?
These are only a handful of aspects that you may need to consider before beginning your injury claim. To discuss these areas in more detail, contact us on the number at the bottom of this guide.
The source for this information is: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-politics-45097810
What Does Medical Negligence Mean?
The term medical negligence, also known as clinical malpractice, refers to a substandard of care issued to a patient by a healthcare professional. This may cause a new injury or illness to arise or an existing form of suffering to worsen, depending on the conditions of the case. There are a number of circumstances in which medical negligence can present itself, some of which may include:
- Dental Negligence
- Surgical Negligence
- Residential Care Home Negligence
- Cancer Misdiagnosis
- Birth Injuries
- GP Negligence
What Is Hospital Negligence
Where medical negligence can take so many different forms, it is important to understand the specific area of negligence you have suffered from. In this guide, we will focus specifically on hospital negligence and medical negligence by the NHS in Cardiff. However, if you are searching for guidance on additional areas of medical negligence, you can find more information on our website.
Similar to other cases of medical malpractice, hospital negligence is described as a substandard of care dispensed by a healthcare professional which causes a patient to suffer from an injury or illness. While all patients are to expect reasonable standards of care during their time in hospital, a substandard of care could lead to mistakes and complications for those involved.
Amounts Of Compensation Paid By Cardiff and Vale University Local Health Board
As we have briefly discussed above, there have been a magnitude of pay-outs in hospital compensation from Cardiff healthcare facilities for numerous NHS medical negligence cases. To better illustrate the level of Cardiff compensation pay-outs, the following table reflects the rates of compensation paid by Cardiff and Vale University Local Health Board.
Accounting Period | Damages Paid £ | Name Of Hospital Or NHS Trust | No. Successful Claims Made Against Hospital/Trust |
---|---|---|---|
2017/18 | 6,196,157 | Cardiff and Vale NHS Trusts | 9 |
The data provided in this table has been collected from the Welsh Assembly who publishes statistics on medical negligence on an annual basis. You can find these statistics here for 2017/2018.
Case Study – £19.8m Compensation Payout For Brain Injuries At Birth
According to a news outlet, the NHS had previously agreed to pay a record £19.8m in damages for a woman’s deprivation of oxygen as a baby. The woman, who was 18 at the time of the claim, is now seriously disabled from the lack of oxygen provided to her during treatment for reflux at five-months-old in early 2000.
The pay-out is the largest compensation package the NHS has ever awarded to a victim of negligence. The amount was estimated to reflect the severity of the injuries sustained by the woman and the estimated lifetime cost of her receiving care at home around the clock.
The victim, who cannot be named for legal reasons, had been born with a malformed oesophagus. When the claim was taken to the high court in Cardiff, as to be expected in most medical negligence claims, the claimant’s representation told of how the woman proceeded to turn blue after hospital staff failed to give her oxygen. However, up until this point she had been a healthy baby. Last month, a judge agreed that hospital staff had neglected their duty of care to properly ventilate the girl before and after she went into respiratory arrest. The Cardiff and Vale University health board in Wales, which runs the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff where the girl received poor care in early 2000, will pay the total settlement.
The mother of the victim described the situation as having her daughter snatched away and changed forever from that moment. Although the victim is mobile, she cannot understand what is happening around her. In addition to the mother’s statement, the client’s medical negligence solicitor said that the case was a tragic example of how the girl’s future was snatched away from her through no fault of her own.
Further details of the case can be found in this article: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2018/oct/01/nhs-pays-out-record-20m-compensation-to-brain-injury-teenager
Claims Against Cardiff Hospital – What Are The Time Limits?
If you have proof that you suffered unnecessary harm because of the breach in the duty of care owed to you by a medical professional and you would like to claim, you must begin legal proceedings within the limitation period.
This is typically three years as set by the Limitation Act 1980. This could be three years from the date you suffered harm unnecessarily or three years from the date your unnecessary suffering was connected to negligence.
For example, if a missed fracture caused you further injury, you could claim three years from the date the fracture was diagnosed instead of from the date you first sought treatment. This is known as the date of knowledge.
However, certain parties cannot start legal proceedings themselves. In these cases, the time limit is suspended. However, a litigation friend can be appointed to act on behalf of the harmed party in a claim for medical negligence. A No Win No Fee solicitor can help have a litigation friend appointed. Additionally, the litigation friend can start a claim at any point during the suspension.
Parties that cannot claim for themselves include:
- Once the claimant turns 18, they will have three years to start proceedings unless a litigation friend started a claim on their behalf.
- Those who lack the mental capacity to begin legal proceedings. The time limit is suspended indefinitely. However, if they regain capacity, they will have three years to begin a claim from that date unless a litigation friend started one on their behalf.
Should you suffer unnecessary harm due to medical negligence at Cardiff Hospital, call our advisors for free advice about what steps you could take next.
How To Start A Cardiff University Hospital Compensation Claim
To establish if you are eligible for seeking legal advice from a medical negligence solicitor. By conducting a personal injury claim, you could be awarded a settlement for medical negligence caused by a multitude of different reasons to varying degrees of severity. The injury or illness could determine the amount of compensation you receive, the cost of any necessary medical treatments and care, or even the loss of income as a result of the harm inflicted. You can find more information about centralised estimations of your total possible compensation award through a personal injury claims calculator in this guide.
You are only a few short steps away from beginning your claim. This can be done by:
- Speaking to our team through the methods listed below.
- From here, discussing the specifics with our team to ensure you are paired with the most suitable medical negligence solicitor.
- Once you are paired with a personal injury solicitor, if you have a valid claim you could be awarded Cardiff hospital compensation pay-outs.
Medical Experts We Work With In Cardiff
Although your trust in medical practitioners may be tainted after your experience with medical malpractice, you will need to undergo an independent medical examination. The purpose of this assessment is to provide substantial evidence of your injuries which could assist the progression of your personal injury claim. This will help both; noting the specific extent of your injuries and highlight that there is medical evidence for the validity of your claim.
You could be seen by a member of our panel of doctors covering your local area. In Cardiff, this panel includes:
Simon Wearne
Parkwood Chiropractic,
93 Cathedral Road,
Cardiff,
CF11 9PG
Heena Singhal
Health & Sports Physiotherapy,
50-52 Station Road,
Cardiff,
CF14 5QP
Louise Whyte
Health & Sports Physiotherapy,
50-52 Station Road,
Llanishen,
Cardiff,
CF14 5QP
Please note: The healthcare practitioner who conducts your medical assessment may be different to those listed above.
No Win No Fee Medical Negligence Claims Against Cardiff Hospital
When you come to make a personal injury claim, your chief concern should be what financial options are available to you. In general, claimants may find a No Win No Fee agreement could be a particularly beneficial funding method. This type of agreement is seen to significantly reduce the financial constraints of a compensation claim for the claimant.
A medical negligence solicitor who operates under a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) will only take a pre-discussed percentage of the final compensation total if the case is successful. However, if the personal injury claim fails to award the claimant with a settlement sum, then the client will not be held accountable for their solicitor’s fees.
Talk To Our Team
If you or a loved one has been a victim of medical negligence by Cardiff hospital doctors within the applicable accident claims time limit, you could be entitled to compensation. Although they are not based in Cardiff, our panel of medical negligence solicitors could help you successfully claim Welsh NHS pay-outs for various forms of hospital negligence.
You can contact our expert team today by calling us on 0800 652 3087 or start your claim online claim by clicking here to fill out a contact form.
References
Below are helpful links to various resources and guides which you may find of use during the accident claims process. The following links will also direct you to local services provided at this hospital.
Cardiff And Vale University Health Board
Information on the future prospects of the Care Quality Commission consensus
NHS Complaints
How to raise a concern about the NHS in Wales
Social Services And Well-Being
Where to find safeguarding and social services for both adult and children
Hospital Negligence Claims
Our guide to hospital negligence compensation and how much you could receive
Written by Hollie.
Edited by Charlotte.