How To Make A Complaint To The NHS

This article will discuss how to make a complaint to the NHS. You may wish to put forward a complaint if you experienced poor care from an NHS service provider. There are different avenues you could take to submit your concerns, which we will discuss in further detail in this guide.

how to make a complaint to the NHS

How To Make A Complaint To The NHS

Additionally, we explore when you could potentially make a medical negligence claim by looking at the eligibility requirements that need to be met.

Later in our guide, we discuss the ways in which medical negligence could occur as well as the compensation that could be awarded after a successful claim to address the impact it has had.

Finally, we provide an overview of the benefits of working with a No Win No Fee solicitor and the services they could offer.

If you have questions at any point as you read, please get in touch with our advisors. You can get in touch in a few different ways:

Jump To A Section

  1. How To Make A Complaint To The NHS
  2. Who Is Eligible To Make A Medical Negligence Claim?
  3. Examples Of Medical Negligence Payouts
  4. What Incidents Of Medical Negligence Could You Claim Compensation For?
  5. Check If You Could Claim With A Solicitor On A No Win No Fee Basis
  6. Further Resources On How To Make A Complaint To The NHS

How To Make A Complaint To The NHS 

You may be wondering how to make a complaint to the NHS. As mentioned, there are several avenues you could take to do so. For example, you could:

  • Complain directly to a member of staff at the NHS service you visited or received care at. Alternatively, you could complain to the NHS trust. Each NHS service provider will have it’s own complaints procedure that you need to follow.
  • Direct your complaint to the NHS Resolution. This is a body of the Department of Health and Social Care. They can handle complaints in a professional, fair and courteous way.
  • Contact the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman who can make final decisions on complaints that haven’t been resolved by NHS England.

Get Help Complaining About NHS Care

If you get in touch, our advisors can answer any questions you have about how to make a complaint to the NHS. They can also assist you with the process of making your complaint. To find out more, please get in touch using the number above.

Who Is Eligible To Make A Medical Negligence Claim?

In order to make a medical negligence claim, you need to meet the following eligibility requirements:

  • A medical professional owed you a duty of care. Medical professionals including doctors, surgeons and nurses must provide care that meets the correct standard.
  • There was a breach of duty. When the care you receive does not meet the correct standard, this is known as a breach of their duty of care.
  • The breach causes avoidable harm. If a breach of a medical professional’s duty of care causes you avoidable harm, it’s likely that medical negligence occurred.

When making a claim for medical negligence, you need to make sure you have evidence to present. This can come in the form of your medical records, for example. Additionally, the Bolam test may be carried out. This is where a panel of medical professionals trained in a relevant field of medicine assess the care you received to determine if the correct standard was met. If the findings support your case, they could be submitted alongside any evidence.

How Long Could You Have To Take Legal Action?

According to the Limitation Act 1980, you have 3 years from the date of the medical negligence to begin the process of claiming. In some cases, the start of the time limit could be from the date of knowledge which is when you should have known about or became aware of the medical negligence.

Some exceptions can apply to the claim time limit. You can get in touch with an advisor to learn more. They can also tell you more about how to make a complaint to the NHS, and when you could potentially be eligible to make a medical negligence claim.

Examples Of Medical Negligence Payouts

Payouts awarded after successful medical negligence claims could consist of up to two heads of loss. The first is called general damages which compensates for the pain and suffering caused by the medical negligence.

Legal professionals can calculate the value of general damages by utilising certain resources. One of these is the medical evidence you provide. Another is a publication called the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). The JCG was last updated in 2022, and it contains guideline award brackets based on court cases that have been successful in the past.

We’ve included some JCG figures in the table below. Your own circumstances need to be accounted for before your claim can be accurately calculated, though. As such, you should only use these figures as a guide.

Compensation Table

HarmAmountDescription
Kidney£169,400 to £210,400Both kidneys are lost or seriously and permanently damaged.
BowelsUp to £184,200Double incontinence with additional medical complications.
Bladder£63,980 to £79,930Control is seriously impaired and there is some pain and incontinence.
Digestive System - Damage From Non-traumatic Injury (i)£38,430 to £52,500Toxicosis of a severe nature resulting in, for example, fever and vomiting, where hospital admission is required.
TeethUp to £38,130Significant and chronic pain in the teeth, such as from an untreated abscess, resulting in significant deterioration of the overall condition of the teeth.

Special Damages In Medical Negligence Claims

Special damages can account for losses you experienced as a result of the medical negligence. For example:

  • Loss of earnings.
  • Prescription costs.
  • Travel costs.
  • The cost of additional care at home.

Evidence in the form of your payslips and bank statements can help prove any losses.

Get in touch today, and our advisors can give you a bespoke estimate of how much your medical negligence claim could be worth.

What Incidents Of Medical Negligence Could You Claim Compensation For?

There are several ways medical negligence could occur. For example:

  • Dental negligence – One example could be if your dentist pulled out the wrong tooth.
  • Surgical negligence – A surgeon could leave a foreign object inside their patient following a surgical procedure. For instance, they could leave in surgical equipment such as a scalpel which leads to the patient developing an infection.
  • Delayed diagnosis – Your doctor may have missed or ignored clear symptoms of a condition such as cancer. This could result in a delayed diagnosis leading to a failure to treat the cancer properly. This could mean it spreads to other organs.
  • Medication errors – You may be prescribed the wrong medication or an incorrect dose of the correct medication. Either scenario can have a negative impact on your health.

To discuss your specific case and find out whether you’re eligible to seek medical negligence compensation, please get in touch with our advisors for free today. They can also offer further guidance on how to make a complaint to the NHS.

Check If You Could Claim With A Solicitor On A No Win No Fee Basis

The medical negligence solicitors on our panel could give you access to their services under a type of No Win No Fee deal called a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA).

This usually means you do not need to pay an upfront fee, ongoing costs, or any money if your claim fails, to cover the work your solicitor has provided.  Instead, they take a success fee from your medical negligence compensation if your claim succeeds. This is taken in the form of a legally capped percentage.

There are other advantages to working with a No Win No Fee solicitor when you claim. They can:

  • Help calculate the value of your claim.
  • Assist in gathering evidence.
  • Explain legal jargon.
  • Offer guidance and answer your questions on how to claim.

Get in touch today to find out if an advisor could put you in touch with a solicitor from our panel to represent you on this basis. To do so, you can:

Further Resources On  How To Make A Complaint To The NHS

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Thank you for reading our guide on how to make a complaint to the NHS. If you require any other information, please contact an advisor on the number above.

Guide by Dan

Edited by Meg