Patient Safety and Compensation for Negligent Medical Care
Issues of patient safety are a priority within the NHS. However, when things go wrong, it may be appropriate to make a claim for compensation.
Patient safety in the NHS
The Government's Health and Social Care Committee recently launched a new inquiry into issues of leadership, performance and patient safety in the NHS.
Patient safety is, inevitably, an issue of major importance within the healthcare settling and learning from patient safety issues is essential. The NHS's Patient Safety Strategy, published in 2019, aims for continuous improvement and learning to minimise patient safety incidents and develop a culture and system of safety.
Nonetheless, in an organisation of the size and complexity of the NHS, errors and incidents relating to patient safety do occur and, where appropriate, the patient is entitled to compensation.
The right to compensation
The law provides for individuals, and in some circumstances, their loved ones, who have suffered due to negligent medical care, to claim compensation for the consequences of the negligence.
Whether the negligence occurred in primary care or secondary care, the patient is entitled to make a claim.
Whether the incident relates to medication, maternity, surgery, in-patient care or out-patient care, or one of the other many and varied aspects of the NHS, a patient who has suffered from substandard care is entitled to compensation.
The purpose of compensation
If negligent care causes a patient to suffer an adverse outcome which should not have been the case, a successful compensation claim aims to provide recompense for the impact of those consequences.
For example, if an individual who has suffered from a catastrophic 'never event, is no longer able to work, a successful claim should compensate for their loss of earnings from the point of the negligence.
Equally, if negligent care has allowed an individual to suffer disability causing them to require personal care and adaptations to their home, a compensation claim should address the costs of that outcome insofar as it has been caused by the negligent healthcare.
Making a claim
Understandably, compensation claims for medical negligence are extremely complex. A thorough investigation into the quality of the patient's medical care is required before a claim can be made. A further assessment of the consequences of the negligence and the ways in which the patient has been affected is also necessary if it appears that there has been an instance of negligence.
Speak to a legal expert
Glynns Solicitors is a dedicated medical negligence legal practice with a wealth of expertise in this complicated area of law.
Contact us today to speak with a solicitor, free of charge, about the possibility of making a claim.
Please call us free on 0800 234 3300 or complete our Online Enquiry Form.
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