On this page, you can find out how our team at Medical Solicitors handles the medical negligence claims process in the UK from start to finish. Take a look at our step-by-step guide below, and don’t hesitate to contact us if you have a question about our process.
Our Medical Negligence Claim Process in the UK
- Initial Contact
At our firm, a litigation assistant will speak to you (to take details by email or telephone, whichever is your preference). The litigation assistant then prepares a detailed typed attendance note which is passed to a senior qualified member of the team for assessment.
- Consultation
The senior member of the team will offer help and advice on the way forward, whether to initially raise a complaint to the health provider or proceed straight to obtaining the medical records.
Whatever the process, we do not ask you to commit to our firm at this stage, and our involvement is without obligation. We like to have a period where you see how we perform and we build up a relationship of trust and confidence.
- Gathering evidence
It will be necessary to apply for copies of your medical notes from your GP and any hospitals/other places where there has been relevant treatment. The copy records are sorted into a presentable order, with an Index; each page is numbered, and usually, a Chronology is prepared. A Chronology is a document summarising the most important medical records entries. It is a quick, easy reference document for the solicitor, barrister, medical experts, and the Court.
Looking at the medical records and the Chronology may clarify whether there is a case to pursue at an early stage. In other, more complex cases, we may need to call on our medicolegal experts to give an early opinion. If so, they do this without charge (on a pro bono basis).
Our medicolegal experts produce reports on whether there has been substandard (i.e. negligent care, a breach of duty) care. It is not sufficient to just establish that there has been substandard care. A medicolegal expert also has to give an opinion that the substandard care has caused an injury to you or a worsening in your medical condition (the test of causation).
- Case decision
We decide whether we can further investigate a claim for you, and if so, we will then offer you a no-win, no-fee agreement. If you do accept a no-win, no-fee agreement with us at this point, then the value of our time spent from day one is drawn into that arrangement.
- Case preparation
After we take a case on, we have to put in place insurance cover for a potential claim and get formal opinions from medical experts. Once the medical experts have advised on the issues, we can submit a Letter of Claim to the care provider.
You may be able to claim for:
- General damages
Compensation for non-financial losses such as pain and suffering and loss of quality of life.
Financial losses arising out of medical injuries suffered relating to any substandard care. We ask clients to keep a note of all expenses they incur as a result of substandard care and to send us any relevant documentation.
For example, you may have spent more time at home, away from work, because of an extended recovery. In this case, home heating bills may have increased, and you may have paid for help around the home and garden. In addition, we may need to write to employers for details of loss of earnings.
- Response from the care provider
The care provider has four months to respond to the Letter of Claim and indicate whether they will admit the claim or defend it. If the claim is admitted, we can usually secure early interim payments of both compensation and costs.
- Claim settlement
The claim is negotiated to a final settlement once the medical evidence is complete in terms of how our client will be in the future so that we can value the claim.
We finalise the compensation amount based on the evidence, considering the long-term impact of the client’s injury and any relevant financial losses, such as additional medical expenses. Negotiations can often lead to a settlement without ever having to issue court proceedings, but all evidence has to be gathered for those losses to allow a final settlement.
- Action if the claim is denied
If the claim is denied, then procedures have to be issued, and at that stage (or earlier), we will involve a barrister (also known as ‘counsel’). The barrister prepares the Court papers, the proceedings are issued, a Particulars of Claim is served on the defendant, and the defendant serves a Defence and response. The Court then arranges a case management conference hearing to put in place the timetable of directions to take the case to a trial date.
- Trial
After the service of a Defence, it can take 18-24 months to reach a trial date, with various evidential steps to complete before the trial. The Court sets a timetable, requiring the parties to exchange lists of their relevant documents, copies of witness statements and expert reports.
In our experience, most cases settle without a trial. In cases where liability is denied and proceedings are issued, negotiations often start after an exchange of expert evidence, within three months before a trial date.
We are fully prepared to take your case to Court if required. If this is successful, you will receive compensation based on the severity of your case.
What You Can Get Out of the Claims Process
There are many ways we can assist with your medical negligence claim. You may be looking for us to address a variety of things:
- An explanation about what has gone wrong and why
- Assurances that there has been a proper investigation and that you have been taken very seriously
- Accountability for mistakes that have been made
- An apology
- An agreement on the way forward, e.g., agree upon the next step in your medical care and/or whether you will be offered a second opinion
- Assurances that other patients will not have the same experience
- An independent investigation if you are unsatisfied with the medical provider's response to your formal complaint
- Representation at an inquest
- Compensation
We can give you some free advice in the first instance, so please call us on 01142 507100 or email us via our contact page for more information.
If it is better for you (owing to work) please do request that we speak to you one evening, outside usual work hours. We are here to try and make life easier for you in what is usually a difficult time for you and your family.
Take on the Medical Negligence Claim Process Today
Our friendly team of specialist lawyers at Medical Solicitors has extensive experience bringing successful medical negligence claims.
Compensation can be claimed where there has been a delay in getting a patient to the hospital, a delay in diagnosis, inappropriate advice given concerning care options and the risks and benefits of such options, where there have been excessive delays in providing actual treatment, or substandard care that amounts to actual medical negligence.
Do contact our friendly team of specialist lawyers at Medical Solicitors. We conduct most of our medical negligence claims under no-win, no-fee agreements, also known as Conditional Fee Agreements, so, you do not have to worry about how you are going to afford to bring a medical negligence claim for compensation.
You have nothing to lose in discussing the clinical negligence claims process with us.