Bedford Medical Negligence Solicitors – No Win No Fee Claims Lawyers Guide

Medical negligence Bedford

Medical negligence Bedford

Choosing the right personal injury solicitor to represent you in your case for personal injury can be difficult. Knowing how to narrow your search down and choose the right solicitor for you and your case maybe quite daunting.  When you’re employing a medical negligence lawyer it can be even trickier because of the level of complexity involved with some of these claims.  If you’re looking for medical negligence solicitors in Bedford then, hopefully, this guide will provide you with all the information to help you choose the right solicitor to help you make your claim.

Our panel of medical negligence solicitors can cover the Bedford area so could be the right choice to help you claim.   They could help with all types of medical negligence cases so, if you’d like to discuss a claim today, please call us on 0800 652 3087.

If you’re not quite ready, and would like to know more first, please carry on reading this handy guide.

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How To Find Solicitors For Medical Negligence Cases

Before deciding which medical negligence solicitor, you should use, it’s important that you know the definition of medical negligence.  Our panel of expert medical negligence solicitors would always look to confirm that:

  • Firstly, you received substandard care from a medical professional and;
  • Secondly, the substandard care led to you sustaining an injury, an illness or your existing condition was made worse.

If both of these statements are true, then you could be eligible to begin a personal injury claim for negligent acts including a medical accident, hospital negligence, a negligent GP, cancer misdiagnosis, nursing home neglect, NHS hospital complaints and other forms of medical negligence.

Throughout this guide we’ll provide examples of medical negligence and explain how they could lead to a claim.  We’ll also provide information on what you could do to help you decide which solicitor to use to take on your claim.   Good starting points are often recommendations from friends and medical negligence solicitor’s reviews, but we’ll explain what else you could look for.

You should be aware that there is a medical negligence claims time limit in the UK.  This means you have 3 years to make your claim from the date of the negligence. There are exceptions and we always advise that you speak with a solicitor as soon as possible to know what your time limit restraints are. Contacting us as soon as possible will allow plenty of time for our panel of expert medical negligence solicitors to gather all of the supporting evidence, including medical evidence, to fully back up your claim.

A Solicitors Location Should Not Affect Your Claim

You may think that you, “need to use medical negligence solicitors in my area”, but it’s far better to use a specialist than just choosing a solicitor because they are local.  In reality, you may not  need to meet your solicitor face to face as, in this modern world, communication is done by email, telephone and some documents are sent in the post.

Our panel of medical negligence solicitors can cover the Bedford area and to help you further we have a panel of medical specialists in the Bedford area who we can use should you need a medical assessment as part of your claim.  Details of these specialists will appear in the next section.

Hopefully, you can now see that the location of a solicitor’s office really isn’t important.   It’s much better to have a solicitor who specialises in medical negligence claims, has experience of cases similar to yours and can demonstrate their recent successes, rather than one who happens to be local.

Injuries Could Be Assessed By Our Panel Of Doctors Covering Bedford

As promised, here are a couple of the medical specialists in the Bedford area that we might use to undertake any medical assessments.

Raheela Khand
245 Ampthill Road,
Bedford, MK42 9AZ.

Rajesh Rachha
Bypass Junction,
Wilstead Road,
Elstow,
Bedford, MK42 9BF.

Mohammed Ahmad
Central Milton Keynes Medical Centre,
68 Bradwell Common Boulevard,
Milton Keynes, MK13 8RN.

Should You Trust Reviews Of A Solicitor?

In the same way as making other purchases, reviews of medical negligence solicitors can help with choosing the right solicitor to help your claim.  They’re not the be all and end all though, more of a starting point.   Use them to find out how happy previous clients were with update frequencies, compensation amounts and overall customer satisfaction but then speak with the solicitor and their staff directly.

It’s the only way you’ll truly know whether they’re the best medical negligence solicitor to help with your case.

Types Of Medical Negligence In Bedford Our Team Could Handle

Below we have provided examples of cases of medical negligence our panel of expert medical negligence solicitors have the knowledge and expertise to be able to represent clients in as long as their case is valid. They have many years of experience dealing with a variety of different types of negligence cases and have the proficiency and expertise to be able to help you.

Nursing Home Neglect Claims

Placing a loved one in a nursing home can be traumatic enough even when you know that they are receiving the highest standard of care.  It can be even worse when they become injured and the injuries were caused by some form of neglect.

Nursing home staff have a duty of care to ensure the patient is treated according to guidelines and they remain safe wherever possible.  If the duty of care is breached and the patient becomes injured, then you may be able to claim compensation on behalf of your loved one if they’re unable to do so themselves.

Injuries such as fractures following a fall due to untrained staff trying to move them, bed or pressure sores caused due to no movement or illnesses caused by medication not being administered on time could be classed as negligence so please contact us if you suspect any form of negligence.

Surgical Injuries Including Nerve Damage

Surgery can be complex and risky. Surgeons should always inform patients that are undergoing surgery of any potential risks so that they can make informed decisions. It is vital the surgeons and the surgical team maintain the standard that is required to deliver a successful surgical procedure. Failure to give less that what is expected could lead to negligence or error at such a vital time.

Here are some examples of surgical negligence:

  • Patients suffering injuries to their internal organs due to surgical mistakes.
  • Any pain caused by an anaesthetic error.
  • Foreign bodies, such as surgical equipment, being left inside the body.
  • Complications caused by inadequate suturing.
  • Further surgery required because surgery was performed on the wrong body site.

Private And NHS Hospital Complaints

A visit to a hospital, either NHS or private, is usually to receive treatment to cure or manage an injury or illness.  When things go well, the patient can return home and things will have improved for them.  In some cases, though, if a negligent act has happened, the patient might suffer a new ailment, injury or their existing condition could be made worse causing the patient to suffer worse harm. If negligence has occurred the patient can make a hospital complaint however if they want to go on to make a hospital negligence case it must be proven that the service they were provided by the medical staff was below the expected standard and that such negligent care lead to them being harmed.

Examples of potential hospital neglect could include;

  • Late or misdiagnosis of a condition causing a delay in treatment and the condition worsened.
  • Illnesses caused by super bugs like MRSA due to poor hygiene.
  • Any negligent surgical mistakes causing an injury or suffering.
  • Being prescribed the incorrect medicines which has adverse effects on your health.

Traumatic Birth Injuries

Attending a maternity ward can be exciting, worrying, scary and thrilling all at the same time.  Any new mother would hope for the best treatment when entering the ward and will put their faith in the medical professionals to protect her and her new baby during the delivery. All medical staffs have a duty of care to ensure both mother and baby remain safe and receive treatment in accordance with the recommended procedures.

If they fail to spot a problem or follow the recommended procedures and either mother or baby suffer an injury, then negligence may be present.  Please speak with our team to discuss whether you could begin a claim or not.

Negligent GP Care

GP’s specialise in a very broad range of illnesses and are trained to be able to narrow down the symptoms presented by a patient and offer a quick diagnosis, provide treatment or refer to a specialist if required.

As the GP has the responsibility of the patients health if they make a crucial mistake of not diagnosing the right condition the patient could go on to suffer and it could have a massive impact on their overall health.

Some examples of when a GP might be deemed negligent include:

  • If they fail to diagnose a condition meaning the patient doesn’t receive any treatment and without treatment some illnesses could continue to develop.
  • If they do make a diagnosis, but they didn’t spot it at the first opportunity, meaning the patient suffered due to no immediate treatment.
  • If they prescribe the incorrect dosage of medicine or prescribe something that the patient is known to be allergic to causing the patient harm.

Cancer Misdiagnosis

In this modern scientific world, a cancer diagnosis doesn’t have to be as concerning as it would have been years ago, especially if it is caught really early.  It is vital that anyone who maybe suffering with a serious illness or disease is transferred to the correct specialist at the earliest opportunity so that treatment can be administered. Failure to recognise the signs of illnesses such as cancer and have them treated as early as possible may mean the condition could worsen.

Cancer is usually given a stage from 1 to 4.   Some cancers are highly treatable the lower the stage they are spotted at.  Therefore, if a delay in diagnosis means the cancer stage increases from 1 to 3 or 4, then the prognosis for the patient and the chances of treatment working fully could be reduced. If you feel that your cancer diagnosis could have been made at a much earlier stage and that as a consequence you have suffered further why not call our team and they could answer any questions you may have.

Cases Where A Dentist Caused Injury Or Illness

Dentists, hygienists and dental nurses have the same duty of care to their patients as other medical professionals.  If they fail to follow procedures, make a mistake or are careless while performing a dental operation which leads to their patient suffering, then they could be deemed negligent and a claim might be possible.

If a dentist has caused you an injury because of a negligent act, please speak with our team to discuss beginning a claim.

Hospitals In North And Mid Bedfordshire

For your information, we’ve listed some of the larger hospitals, NHS and private, in the Bedford area.

  • Bedford Hospital.
  • Milton Keynes University Hospital.
  • BMI The Manor Hospital.
  • Fountains Court.
  • Gilbert Hitchcock House.
  • Moorfields Eye Hospital.

NHS Data Showing The Number Of Claims Against Local NHS Trusts

To demonstrate the extent of medical negligence claims made against the Bedford Hospital NHS trust, we’ve included the table below.  The data has come from the following set of NHS data.

Healthcare ProviderClaims in 2017/2018Number of Incidents 2017/2018Damages Payments
Bedford Hospital NHS Trust33*£2,591,034

Our panel of medical negligence solicitors can cover the Bedford area which means, if you’ve suffered an illness or injury which was caused by negligence within this NHS trust, they could help you to begin your own claim, so please get in touch to discuss your options.

No Win No Fee Bedford Medical Negligence Cases

If you’re worried about the cost of making a medical negligence claim then don’t worry, our panel of expert medical negligence solicitors offer a no win no fee service for all claims they take on.  No win no fee means;

  • You don’t pay the solicitor any money up front.
  • If they lose the case, you don’t have to pay them at all.
  • And, if they win, you don’t need to find the funds to pay their success fee as it’s taken from your compensation automatically.

Success fees are a maximum of 25% of your compensation by law but might be less.

Start Your Claim

Now that you’ve read this guide, we hope you understand that our panel of medical negligence solicitors can cover the Bedford area and you don’t have to choose a local solicitor.  If you’d like to discuss beginning a no win no fee claim today, you can call us on 0800 652 3087 or fill in this online form and we’ll get back to you.

Further Resources

To help you further, we’ve included some links below to other useful resources:

Inspection Report: Bedford NHS Trust – The latest inspection of the NHS in Bedford from the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

NHS Cancer – A guide to cancer symptoms, types and treatment options by the NHS.

Misdiagnosis Claims – This guide provides a more detailed look at what misdiagnosis involves and when it might lead to a claim.

Bedford Hospital NHS

Bedford Hospital NHS Trust
South Wing
Kempston Road
BEDFORD
MK42 9DJ
United Kingdom

Edited by Melis.