Finding the right medical negligence lawyer can be a daunting task due to the complexity of some cases and the amount of evidence required to prove a claim. Some people spend ages searching for medical negligence solicitors. It is important that people realise that they do not have to use solicitors within their area such a medical negligence solicitors in Peterborough they could use a law firm that could cover the area. This guide will provide information on how to choose the right solicitor to make your claim for you.
Our panel of medical negligence solicitors can cover the Peterborough area and we can offer advice about your case today. So, if you’re ready to begin, please call our expert advisors on 0800 652 3087.
If you would like to find out more first, then carry on reading this guide about the medical negligence claims process and how to find the best lawyer for your medical negligence case.
Choose A Section
- How To Find The Right Solicitor For A Medical Negligence Claim
- Should I Work With A Solicitor Near Me?
- Reviews And Recommendations Can Help Choose A Solicitor
- Cases Of Medical Negligence In Peterborough Our Panel Of Experts Could Handle
- Medical Examinations Could Be Carried Out Close To You By Our Panel Of Experts
- Injury Or Illness Caused By Surgical Errors
- Birth Injury Settlements
- Hospital Negligence
- Care Home Negligence Claims
- Cancer Misdiagnosis
- Dental Negligence
- GP Negligence Compensation
- Statistical Information For Clinical Negligence At Peterborough NHS Trusts
- No Win No Fee Solicitors For Clinical Negligence Claims In Peterborough
- Medical Facilities And Hospitals In Peterborough
- How To Start Your Claim
- Further Information
How To Find The Right Solicitor For A Medical Negligence Claim
Medical negligence claims can be made when a medical professional treats a patient in a substandard way which leads to the patient becoming injured, ill or their existing condition is made worse. Proving the care was substandard can be very tricky. Therefore, it’s highly recommended that you hire a specialist medical negligence solicitor to help. The other hard part with these types of claims is choosing the right solicitor to help you.
You could ask friends and family for recommendations. You might want to read online reviews, or you might just look for medical negligence solicitors in Peterborough to make your claim. All of these might work but we would always advise you speak directly with the solicitor or their claims handler to help you decide whether they’re the best solicitor for your case.
Our panel of expert medical negligence solicitors can cover a vast array of different medical negligence claims and can demonstrate how they’ve helped with recent cases which may be similar to yours.
When you speak with a solicitor, find out what cases they’ve taken on recently that were similar to yours, how they’ll update you about your case and what they’ll do in the event they receive an offer from the defendant in the case.
Should I Work With A Solicitor Near Me?
When people speak with us about claims, we often hear questions like, “Do I need to use medical negligence solicitors near me?”. The answer is quite simply, “No”. You’re under no obligation to use a local personal injury lawyer and our panel of medical negligence solicitors can cover the Peterborough area.
In most cases, correspondence between yourself and your solicitor will be via email, post or telephone. There is no requirement for you to meet you solicitor face to face.
We do like to keep one part of the claim local though and that’s the medical assessment. You probably won’t want to travel far for an assessment, as we have a panel of doctors and specialists up and down the country to minimise travelling times.
We’ll provide information about the specialists we use in Peterborough later in this guide.
One important thing to note, regardless of which personal injury solicitor you use, is the personal injury claims time limit. This applies to all claims for medical negligence and it’s important that you don’t go past it, or your claim will be invalid. The time limit is 3 years from the date of the negligence or from the date you became aware of your injuries. There are exceptions to the rule for more information on time limits please call the experts the number is at the bottom of the page.
Reviews And Recommendations Can Help Choose A Solicitor
Medical negligence solicitor’s reviews can be a really good starting point when choosing a solicitor to take on your case. You can use them to whittle down your selection by finding out how satisfied previous clients were, whether they were happy with the compensation awarded and if they were kept up to date throughout the case.
Once you’ve got a short list, it is best to contact the solicitor directly and find out more about them. You have to be happy with the solicitor you choose as you’ll probably have to work with them for some time.
Cases Of Medical Negligence In Peterborough Our Panel Of Experts Could Handle
In the following sections, we’ll provide information about our medical experts in the Peterborough area and also of some medical negligence case examples that could potentially lead to claims.
Medical Examinations Could Be Carried Out Close To You By Our Panel Of Experts
Here are some of the medical experts we use to assess claimants in the Peterborough area:
Mohammed Safdar
Telephone House,
Wentworth Street,
Peterborough, PE1 1BA.
Mamtha Balendra Kumar
Broadway Chiropractic Clinic,
64 Broadway,
Peterborough, PE1 1SU.
Rajeev Jahaagirdar
Preston Physio Clinic,
29 Alexandra Road,
Peterborough, PE1 3DE.
Injury Or Illness Caused By Surgical Errors
Surgery can be complicated and usually comes with some form of risk. The patient will usually be told about the risks before the procedure takes place if it is an elective surgery and not emergency. It is important to be able to distinguish between harm caused by a risk and harm caused due to negligence.
Here are examples of potential surgical negligence or error that could cause unnecessary harm;
- Damage caused to unrelated internal organs.
- Equipment such as swabs, clips or clamps being left in the body.
- Inadequate suturing causing the need to go back under.
- Wrong limb amputation.
- Wrong site surgery.
Birth Injury Settlements
If a mother or baby is injured or caused harm due to a healthcare provider during pregnancy, labour or post birth, and the injury is caused by negligence, then a medical negligence claim might be possible. Some injuries to babies that could lead to cerebral palsy can be life-changing, and the child might need years of support or specialist treatment to cope day to day. Claiming compensation may not be a choice in such circumstances but a necessity so that the child can experience life qualities.
Hospital Negligence
Whether you receive treatment in an NHS hospital or a private hospital, if that treatment your are receiving is sub-standard, possibly negligent and you go on to suffer further, maybe a condition is misdiagnosed and any treatment in curing or treating the condition is delayed allowing an illness to to get worse then this could be considered as hospital negligence.
Here are some examples of hospital negligence:
- Misdiagnosis or non-diagnosis of a condition meaning treatment treatment could be delayed allowing a condition to worsen.
- Incorrect medication prescribed causing adverse effects.
- Infections such as MRSA or MSSA due to unhygienic practices.
- Surgical errors causing avoidable harm.
- Food illnesses such as food poison due to hospital food.
Care Home Negligence Claims
Claims for nursing home negligence might be possible if a patient is injured because of a negligent act. Examples of negligence in care homes may include:
- Care home abuse cases.
- Medicine not being dispensed at the right times, leading to worsening of an ongoing condition.
- Bedsores or pressure sores caused by lack of movement.
- Fractures caused by errors when moving patients.
Cancer Misdiagnosis
It is extremely vital that when any symptoms that might be related to cancer are reported to a doctor that a patient is sent for diagnostic testing to ensure that cancer is not present and if it is the right treatment should be administrated as soon as possible. In the event that symptoms are not picked up straight away by a doctor the illness could get worse which may mean more invasive treatment. We’re often asked, “How much compensation for the misdiagnosis of cancer?”, but the answer isn’t clear. Every case is different, and the amount of compensation will differ from case to case depending on the impact that the misdiagnosis caused.
If you or a loved one has suffered because of a cancer misdiagnosis, please contact one of our specialist advisors to discuss whether or not you can make a compensation claim.
Dental Negligence
Dentists can also be sued for medical negligence if it causes a patient to suffer unnecessarily through negligence. Dental negligence could happen because a wrong tooth has been extracted, or nerve damage has occurred during a dental procedure or even if a mouth disease is not diagnosed.
Examples of dental negligence could include:
- Nerve damage caused during surgery.
- Delay in diagnosis such as oral cancer.
- Damaged or lost teeth following an error in surgery.
- Pain suffered because the anaesthetic was inadequate.
If you’ve suffered in any way because of negligence by a dentist or other dental staff, please call our advisors to discuss making any potential case you may have.
GP Negligence Compensation
Doctors are under pressure to diagnose problems and plan treatment usually within a 10 minute appointment.
Problems that can occur include:
- Incorrect medication being prescribed causing either the problem to get worse or new problems caused by the medication.
- Late diagnosis causing a delay to treatment allowing the condition to worsen
- Misdiagnosis meaning the real problem is not treated on time again under such circumstances the patient could deteriorate.
If you believe your GP has acted negligently which has caused you to suffer, please contact our team of specialist advisors to discuss your options. We can provide free advice about what steps you should take to gather the necessary evidence to support your claim.
Statistical Information For Clinical Negligence At Peterborough NHS Trusts
The table below contains data from the NHS trusts covering the Peterborough area and how much compensation they’ve paid out according to the latest figures released.
Healthcare Provider | Claims in 2017/2018 | Number of Incidents 2017/2018 | CNST Damages Paid |
---|---|---|---|
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough NHS Foundation Trust | 8 | * | £135,185 |
North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust | 73 | 6 | £13,505,983 |
The data contained in the table is for NHS establishments only. Private healthcare providers are not obliged to provide this kind of information.
No Win No Fee Solicitors For Clinical Negligence Claims In Peterborough
To make claiming easier for many clients, our panel of expert medical negligence solicitors offer a no win no fee service. Here’s how they work:
First of all, the solicitor will assess the details of the claim. They’ll ask what happened, how it affected you and who you think is responsible. If they conclude that you have a strong case, they’ll prepare a no win no fee agreement (also known as a CFA – Conditional Fee Agreement).
The CFA will outline the fact that there are no up-front fees to pay and, if they solicitor doesn’t win the case, then the client doesn’t have to pay for the solicitor’s work.
It will also outline how the solicitor will be paid if they win the case. This is done by taking a ‘Success fee’ from any compensation awarded. These are limited by law to 25% of the compensation.
Once the claim is settled, the solicitor retains their success fee before sending the rest of the compensation to their client.
Medical Facilities And Hospitals In Peterborough
For your information, here are a list of hospitals in Peterborough:
- Doddington Hospital.
- Fulbourn Hospital.
- Peterborough City Hospital.
- Orthopaedics and Spine Specialist Hospital (private).
- Fitzwilliam Hospital (private).
How To Start Your Claim
If you’re ready to begin a claim, you can contact us in any of the ways listed below. After discussing your claim, if we think you have a strong case, we’ll introduce you to one of our panel of expert medical negligence solicitors to start your case using a no win no fee service.
Contact us by:
- Calling us free on 0800 652 3087. Speak with one of our specialist advisors today.
- Or by filling in this online form to begin your claim. We’ll call you back when it’s convenient for you.
It’s ok to call us even if you’re not sure whether you’re ready to claim or not. Our specially trained advisors can assess your claim and provide advice about what steps you need to take prior to starting your claim.
Further Information
For further information, we’ve provided links below to some useful and informative articles which may help you further.
Information about Cancer – Information about the cancer treatment strategies currently being deployed by the NHS.
Health and Safety in Care Services – A website by the Health and Safety Executive regarding safety procedures and policies in care services.
GP Negligence Claims – This guide provides more information about GP negligence.
Compensation Calculator – This useful guide explains about a personal injury claims calculator and what amounts of compensation can be awarded for certain injuries.
GP Locator – This useful tool, from the NHS, allows you to search for GP services in your area.