By Megan Uley. Last Updated 18th November 2022. If you are in the unfortunate position of needing to find medical negligence solicitors in Harrow, then you might be starting to realise how important and how difficult it could be to find the right one.
So, where do you start and what do you look for in a solicitor who can handle your personal injury claim? In this guide, we’re going to explain what options you have and what sort of questions you could ask any potential solicitor.
If you would like to discuss your claim with a medical negligence specialist today, then you could call our team on 0800 652 3087 for free legal advice about your claim.
You can read more about choosing solicitors in Harrow and medical negligence in general by continuing to read through this guide.
Choose A Section
- How To Pick A Specialist Clinical Negligence Solicitor For Your Claim
- Do I Have To Claim Through A Law Firm In Harrow?
- We Work With A Panel Of Doctors Who Could Examine You In The Harrow Area
- Compare Solicitors For Clinical Negligence Claims
- Harrow Clinical Negligence Cases Our Panel Of Solicitors Could Handle
- Hospital Acquired Infections, Illnesses And Injuries
- Surgical Mistakes And Negligence
- Negligence At A GP Surgery In Harrow
- Birth Injuries
- Care Home And Residential Care Negligence
- Negligence By Dentists
- Cancer Medical Mistreatment
- Data Illustrating NHS Negligence In The Borough Of Harrow
- Hospitals In The Borough Of Harrow
- Solicitors In Harrow – Do They Work On A No Win No Fee Basis?
- Contact Us
- Helpful Information
How To Pick A Specialist Clinical Negligence Solicitor For Your Claim
Whether you’re looking for solicitors to help with claims for surgical mistakes, safeguarding issues or GP mistakes, you’ll need to know whether a personal injury lawyer is likely to take on your claim. To do this, see if you can answer ‘yes’ to the following 3 questions:
- Did a medical professional provide you with substandard, negligent, dangerous or careless treatment?
- Were you injured, made ill or did existing condition become worse because of that treatment?
- And, did the treatment take place within the last 3 years as that’s the medical negligence claims time limit in the UK? (There are exceptions to this rule, please contact us further to discuss).
If you’ve answered yes to all of these, then you could be eligible to make a no win no fee medical negligence claim.
So, what are your options? Some people like to ask their friends for advice, speak to their family for recommendations or even read medical negligence solicitor reviews. While any of these could work, they won’t always provide you with the best personal injury solicitor to help with your case. Therefore, our legal advisors could offer you advice on what to ask any potential solicitor before agreeing to use their services.
If after reading this guide you have any questions about making a claim, please call and speak with a specially trained advisor who’ll offer free legal advice about your claim options.
Do I Have To Claim Through A Law Firm In Harrow?
Your first thought when choosing a solicitor might be, “I need to look for medical negligence solicitors in my area”, which you could do. However, many solicitor firms today do not require face to face meetings and are happy to communicate through email and over the telephone, you don’t need to necessarily work with a local solicitor.
Therefore, you could choose a solicitor that specialises in medical negligence claims who is based anywhere in the UK. This means that our panel of medical negligence solicitors who are not based in Harrow but can cover the Harrow area could help you with your claim. To discuss how they could help, please call and speak with one of our specialists advisors.
We Work With A Panel Of Doctors Who Could Examine You In The Harrow Area
If you decide to utilise our panel of solicitors to help you with your claim, we work with a panel of doctors local to you, which means that you will not have to travel far. This assessment is used to decipher the extent of your injuries and how long-lasting the effects are. Below, you will see a list of some of the panel of doctors who are based in the Harrow area;
Salman Baig
79 College Road,
Harrow, HA1 1BD.
QF Mirza
Physiolink,
97 Pinner Road,
Harrow, HA1 4AT.
Sumeet Vohra
204-226 Imperial Drive,
Harrow, HA2 7HH.
Compare Solicitors For Clinical Negligence Claims
One method of picking a solicitor that we’ve already discussed above is reading reviews. We think they offer a good starting point and provide a useful insight into what previous clients think of the service that they have received.
However, we’d recommend that you call the solicitor and ask the following questions before deciding to use them:
- How do they plan to manage your medical negligence claim?
- What cases have they taken on recently which are similar to yours?
- How often will they update you throughout the claim?
- What amount of compensation do they hope to achieve on your behalf?
Harrow Clinical Negligence Cases Our Panel Of Solicitors Could Handle
Over the coming sections of this guide, we’ll look at some examples of medical negligence which could lead to a compensation claim. If you don’t’ see your type of injury listed, don’t worry as is could still constitute as a claim for personal injury. So long as your injury or illness was caused by negligent treatment carried out by a medical professional and it can be proved, then you may be eligible for a personal injury claim.
Hospital Acquired Infections, Illnesses And Injuries
When you need treatment in a hospital, whether as an emergency patient or for planned treatments, you would hope that the treatment goes well, and your condition improves. All hospital staff have a duty of care to try and maintain your safety wherever possible and the hospital management undertake risk assessments which lead to safety measures and procedures being put in place. If those procedures aren’t followed and a patient suffers as a result, then it might be possible to seek damages for any suffering caused.
Hospital negligence might be claimed for:
- Delayed treatment which causes suffering and was as a result of a misdiagnosis.
- Injuries caused by surgical negligence (see next section).
- Undue suffering caused as an incorrect medicine was administered.
Surgical Mistakes And Negligence
Most types of surgery, whether cosmetic or general medical surgery, come with an element of risk. Usually, the patient will be told of the risk and will be asked to sign a consent form or waiver to agree they understand the risks.
You might think that when a waiver has been signed, compensation for injuries during surgery wouldn’t be possible, but that’s not necessarily the case if suffering is caused by surgical negligence and this has resulted in avoidable harm.
Examples of such surgical negligence include:
- If you require further treatment to remove items of surgical equipment left inside you.
- Pain caused by general anaesthetic mistakes.
- Any complications caused because suturing is ineffective or inadequate.
- Or damage to healthy internal organ as a result of wrong-sited surgery.
Negligence At A GP Surgery In Harrow
GPs require a very broad range of medical knowledge to deal with the vast array of medical conditions they’re presented with every day. In a lot of cases, their knowledge allows them to diagnose the problem, prescribe a treatment or identify when further tests are required.
However, if a GP fails to spot a problem, diagnoses it as something else or prescribes the incorrect treatment which means their patient suffers unnecessarily in any way, then a compensation claim might be possible for any suffering caused.
Birth Injuries
Mothers and babies are owed a duty of care during pregnancy, labour, delivery and post-delivery to ensure they remain as safe and healthy as possible throughout. If a member of the maternity team is negligent in any way, and this results in an injury or illness to either mother, baby or both then a claim for compensation against the hospital could be possible. Examples of such negligence could be failure to notice the signs of Pre- Eclampsia during pregnancy, or failure to notice the baby is in distress, leading to a lack of oxygen and consequently brain damage.
If you or your baby were injured during childbirth by the negligent acts or omissions of health care prosessionals please call us to discuss your circumstances in greater detail.
Care Home And Residential Care Negligence
A care home is designed to make the life of all residents as relaxing and comfortable as possible. Each resident has their own complex set of needs but should be treated and looked after within health and safety guidelines. Any failure to maintain and uphold the guidelines could result in a care home resident suffering undue harm and could be grounds for an eligible claim for personal injury.
Examples of care home negligence could include:
- Fractures caused when incorrect lifting methods are used.
- Illnesses caused because prescription medicine isn’t received.
- Pressure sores for a bed-bound patient as they have not been turned regularly.
Negligence By Dentists
Your dentist, hygienist or dental nurse owes you a duty of care to ensure you reman as safe as is possible while they treat you. This requires them to maintain hygiene standards, treat you within recommended guidelines and to use the correct equipment for the task.
Examples of negligence by a dentist which might mean a claim could be made include:
- If you undergo treatment that shouldn’t have been needed due to a misdiagnosis.
- Pain caused by anaesthetic errors.
- If you suffer damage to your healthy teeth, gums or nerves during treatment.
Cancer Medical Mistreatment
You’ve probably heard how cancer diagnosis and treatment methods have improved over recent years following large amounts of cancer research. This means that if a cancer diagnosis happens early enough, then the cancer can be treated early and, in many cases, a positive outcome can occur.
If the diagnosis is delayed, the cancer might advance meaning more pain for the patient, more aggressive treatment is required or, in some cases, the cancer cannot be treated at all.
When the delay in treatment occurs because a medical professional fails to spot the symptoms of cancer at the earliest opportunity or they fail to refer the patient for further tests, then the patient, or a loved one, might be able to seek compensation for any suffering caused by the delay incorrect diagnosis.
Data Illustrating NHS Negligence In The London North West Healthcare NHS Trust
The information in the table below, taken from this NHS report, shows the number of claims made for NHS negligence in the London North West Healthcare NHS Trust.
NHS Trust | Number of claims | Number of Incidents | CNST Damages |
---|---|---|---|
London North West Healthcare NHS Trust | 70 | 13 | £8,438,239 |
It also shows the amount of compensation that was awarded in the 2017-18 period.
Hospitals In The Borough Of Harrow
We’ve listed some of the main hospitals in the area for your information:
- St Mark’s Hospital.
- Northwick Park Hospital.
- Central Middlesex Hospital.
- BMI Hendon Hospital.
- Cygnet Hospital Harrow.
If you would like to discuss any form of Harrow clinical negligence at these hospitals or other medical establishments in the area, then please get in touch and let one of our specialists advise you of how we could help.
Solicitors In Harrow – Do They Work On A No Win No Fee Basis?
When looking for solicitors in Harrow to help you with your medical negligence claim, you may come across something called a No Win No Fee agreement. There are different types of No Win No Fee agreements, such as a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). If you are offered a Conditional Fee Agreement, this could mean:
- You don’t have to pay the solicitor anything upfront for them to begin working on the claim.
- If the claim fails, you will not have to pay the solicitor for their services.
- If the solicitor wins the case, you will be expected to pay them a success fee from your compensation. This amount is legally capped.
It’s important to note that you do not need to hire a solicitor in Harrow even if this is where you suffered harm. Solicitors based anywhere in the country could represent you.
You can contact our advisors today if you would like to be connected with our panel of solicitors for Harrow accidents today.
Contact Us
Now that you’ve read the whole of this guide, if you’re ready to discuss how we could help you make your claim, you can get in touch by calling us free on 0800 652 3087. One of our specialist advisors will assess your claim with you and let you know if you have a good chance of compensation. If you’d like us to call you instead, then please fill in our online form.
Helpful Information
To help you further, now that you’ve reached the end of this guide about finding a law firm in Harrow or using alternative solicitors, we’ve provided some additional resources which we hope you’ll find useful below:
Northwick Park Hospital
Watford Road,
Harrow, HA1 3UJ.
Web: https://lnwh.nhs.uk/northwick-park-hospital
Inspection Report – The Care Quality Commission rated Northwick Park as requires improvement overall at their last inspection.
Care Home Safety – Guidelines from the Health and Safety Executive for care home managers which could help with residential care negligence, mistreatment or abuse claims.
Hospital Negligence – Information on how to claim for a hospital acquired infection and other illnesses.
GP Claims – A guide with more information about making a claim against a GP surgery in Harrow.
Written by Brett.
Edited by Charlotte.