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A Guide To Reporting Medical Negligence In The UK

Every day, millions of people in the UK access medical care from both the NHS and the private sector. No one expects to leave as a victim of medical negligence, but what can you do if it happens to you? Making a complaint about the care you’ve received can make the health system safer for others, and it can also help you get the answers you deserve.

In this guide, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about how to report medical negligence, from your right to make a complaint to how reporting what happened could help you make a compensation claim.

Contact Us

We hope that our guide will give you all the information you need, but if it doesn’t, our team of advisors are here to help. If you’d like to learn more about reporting medical negligence or making a compensation claim, get in touch with us today for free by:

A woman talks to a doctor about the complaints procedure in a hospital bed.

Frequently Asked Questions

  1. What Are My Rights For Reporting Medical Negligence?
  2. How To Report Medical Negligence In the UK
  3. Who Can I Make A Medical Negligence Complaint About?
  4. Is There A Timeframe For Reporting Medical Negligence?
  5. Once I’ve Complained, Will I Get Compensation?
  6. Am I Able To Make A Medical Negligence Claim?
  7. Will My Complaint Impact My Ability To Claim?
  8. Free Advice From Medical Negligence Claims Care
  9. More Information

What Are My Rights When Reporting Medical Negligence?

If you’ve been a victim of medical negligence, no matter how major or minor, then you have the right to:

  • Make a complaint
  • Seek compensation

Making a complaint about medical negligence can be beneficial for a number of reasons. For starters, it can spur an investigation, which can help you understand what you’ve been through. It can also make the medical system safer for others by making sure that policies are put in place to protect people from similar harm.

However, reporting medical negligence can also help you later on down the line if you choose to make a compensation claim. In this case, you could potentially use your complaint and the results of any following investigations as evidence to support your claim.

Keep reading to learn how to report medical negligence, or contact our team today if you’re ready to get started.

How To Report Medical Negligence In the UK

The first step in reporting medical negligence within the NHS is getting in touch with your local Patient Advice and Liaison Service (PALS). PALS is an NHS service that can help you resolve issues informally, while giving you more information on the complaints process.

File A Complaint

If you can’t find an informal solution through PALS, you can file a formal complaint. To do this, you can either write, email, or verbally speak to a member of staff in the complaints department of the hospital or the surgery responsible.

If you’re making a complaint on behalf of someone else, it can be helpful to get their signature or a written statement from them if possible.

Receive Acknowledgement

After making your complaint, you should receive some acknowledgement from the service responsible. This acknowledgement should give you an idea of what your next steps could be, like an offer for discussion, and should arrive within three working days of making your complaint.

Offer For Discussion

If you accept their offer, then they may invite you to discuss what the complaints process will look like for you going forward. During this discussion, they can give you more information on what kind of investigation they recommend, how long this could take, and what the potential outcomes could be.

Investigating The Complaint

If you decide to proceed, then your complaint may be investigated. During this time, they’ll look at the nature of your complaint, the ways you’ve been harmed, and what could have been done to prevent it. If you aren’t kept updated on the progress of the investigation, you can contact them yourself.

Receive A Written Response

When the investigation is concluded, you should be informed of the results. This should include the findings of the investigation, and the consequences– For example, if a medical professional was struck off, or if policies have changed as a result. You may also get an apology from the NHS trust or the individuals involved, and answers as to why the incident occurred.

If Unhappy, Make An Appeal

If you’re unhappy with the results of the investigation, then you can make an appeal. The details on how to do this should come in the written response you receive about the investigation. For example, they may direct you to the Health Service Ombudsman or the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

This is just general advice for making a complaint to an NHS trust, but if you were harmed by a private practice, the process might be different. Contact our advisors today to learn more about how to report medical negligence and how it could help you through the claims process.

A patient in a hospital bed looks out of the window and waits for treatment from healthcare professionals.

Who Can I Make A Medical Negligence Complaint About?

You can make a medical negligence complaint about any NHS service, and each one has its own complaints service. This includes:

To find out how to report medical negligence under each service, you can check their website or reception area, or ask a member of staff.

However, this doesn’t mean that you can’t complain about a private service. The process might be different, but if you’ve suffered medical negligence, then you have the right to report it and make a complaint.

Keep reading to learn more about the complaints process within the NHS, or contact our team today to find out if you could be eligible to make a medical negligence claim.

Is There A Timeframe For Reporting Medical Negligence?

Yes, the NHS advises that complaints are made within 12 months of the incident or of the harm coming to your attention. This timeframe is in place to make sure that they can carry out a fair investigation, because if too much time has passed, then it can be harder to investigate fully.

If you’re looking to make a medical negligence compensation claim alongside your complaint, you should be aware of the time limit. Under the Limitation Act 1980, you have 3 years to start your claim. This begins on either the date that the negligence occurred, or the date you connect the harm you’ve suffered with negligence. There are also certain exceptions to this time limit.

To learn what these exceptions are or to learn more about how to report medical negligence within the accepted timeframe, speak to our advisors today. Or, keep reading for more information.

Once I’ve Complained, Will I Get Compensation?

No, you won’t get compensation from making a complaint. The complaints process exists to make the medical system safer and to make sure that serious mistakes aren’t repeated and safeguards are put in place.

Learning how to report medical negligence is important because it keeps others safe and helps you get the answers you need. But if you’d also like to pursue compensation, then you could make a medical negligence claim, provided that certain criteria are met.

Keep reading to find out when you could claim medical negligence compensation. Or, speak to a member of our team to get started today.

Am I Able To Make A Medical Negligence Claim?

You can make a claim as long as you can prove that medical negligence occurred. But what is medical negligence?

Medical negligence occurs when a medical professional breaches their duty of care by failing to provide adequate care, thus causing you avoidable harm. All medical professionals owe a duty of care to their patients, and this means that they have a legal responsibility for their well-being. To uphold this duty, they are expected to provide care that meets a minimum standard.

If they fail to meet this standard, and this causes you to suffer avoidable harm, then this is known as medical negligence. For example, negligence could occur if you went to your GP showing clear symptoms of ovarian cancer, but instead of sending you for further tests, they misdiagnosed your cancer as fibromyalgia. This delay in diagnosing the real issue caused the cancer to spread past the point of effective treatment.

Read on to find out whether or not making a complaint will affect your ability to claim compensation, or get in touch with our team of advisors today to get started.

An NHS healthcare professional discusses the NHS complaints procedure with a patient

Will My Complaint Impact My Ability To Claim?

No, complaining won’t affect your ability to claim. In fact, learning how to report medical negligence and making a claim before you start proceedings can be a great benefit to your case. If they undertake an investigation, and this investigation finds that medical negligence occurred, then you could potentially use the results as evidence in your claim.

Having enough evidence is crucial because you need to be able to prove that negligence occurred to have a valid claim. Contact our advisors to learn more about strengthening and supporting a compensation claim, or keep reading to find out how a solicitor from our panel could help you.

Free Advice From Medical Negligence Claims Care

At Medical Negligence Claims Care, our clients are at the forefront of everything we do. We understand that to many people, the claims process can seem complex, and we’re here to help. Our panel of expert medical negligence solicitors have decades of experience, which they can use on a No Win No Fee basis to help you make a claim.

Plus, the solicitors on our panel are dedicated to helping all victims of negligence, no matter their financial standing. Because of this, they offer their clients a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), which is a kind of No Win No Fee contract.

Under this kind of agreement, you get top-tier legal help without paying any fees for your solicitor’s work upfront, as the claim is ongoing, or at all if your claim fails.

If it succeeds, then your solicitor will take a success fee. This fee is taken as a small percentage of your compensation, and the percentage they’re allowed to take is limited by law. The legal cap helps to make sure that you keep the larger share of what you receive.

Contact Our Panel Of Advisers

Are you ready to start your medical negligence claim? If you’re ready to get started or if you’re looking for free advice, our team of advisors is here to help. Contact us today to learn more by:

A medical negligence solicitor behind a desk helps a client sue a local hospital for negligent treatment

More Information

For more helpful information surrounding medical negligence claims:

Or, for more resources:

Thank you for reading our guide on how to report medical negligence.