GP and Doctor Negligence Compensation Claims – A Medical Negligence Law Guide

GP And Doctor Medical Negligence Compensation Claim

Welcome to our guide to GP and doctor negligence claims. Have you experienced suffering due to your doctor’s failures? Whether it’s a GP at your local surgery or a doctor at a hospital, providing substandard care to patients is against the law. If you can evidence that your suffering was a result of negligence, you could have grounds to make a medical negligence claim.

doctor negligence
GP and doctor negligence

Over the course of this article, we’ll explain how you could get the compensation that you deserve by making a GP or doctor negligence claim. In addition, we’ll provide you with our expert tips on what steps you should take in this situation and how you could give your claim the best chances of success.

In a healthcare setting, you should never expect to receive substandard care. Therefore, it can be extremely distressing to discover that you’ve been caused to suffer as a result of negligence. If you believe that you deserve compensation, our team is here to help.

By contacting one of our advisors today, you can receive a specialist consultation about your situation. Unlike other companies, we’ll never charge you for this service, so you can get in touch with no obligation on your part. Our advisors will be able to tell you whether you have grounds to make a medical negligence claim and can even estimate how much compensation you could be entitled to for it. 

What’s more, they can connect you with a No Win No Fee legal specialist from our panel of lawyers, so you can rest assured that your case is in expert hands without any financial risk involved.

To learn more about our services, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today:

Jump To A Section

  1. Our Guide To GP / Doctor Negligence Claims
  2. What Is GP / Doctor Negligence?
  3. GP Negligence Claims Compensation Calculator
  4. Could I Claim For GP Negligence Through A No Win No Fee Agreement?
  5. Do I Have A Claim Against My GP For Medical Negligence?
  6. What Standards And Duty Of Care Should GP Care Meet?
  7. Rates Of Negligence By GPs
  8. Causes Of GP / Doctor Negligence
  9. How Does The Medical Claims Process Work?
  10. FAQs On GP Medical Negligence
  11. Requesting A Call Back From Our Team
  12. Related Information

Our Guide To GP / Doctor Negligence Claims

To help explain how you could get the compensation that you deserve, we’ll begin by addressing some commonly asked questions from prospective claimants thinking about making a GP or doctor negligence claim. These include:

  • What is medical negligence?
  • Do I have a valid claim for medical negligence?
  • What standards of care are required to be met?
  • How does medical negligence happen?
  • What type of payout could I be entitled to for medical negligence?

Additionally, we’ll provide you with our expert tips on what steps you should take in this situation and how you could give your claim the best chances of success, such as:

  • What steps to take if you fall victim to medical negligence
  • Why claiming through a No Win No Fee agreement could be beneficial
  • How to find the best lawyer to handle your case on your behalf

In the meantime, please don’t hesitate to contact one of our advisors today. They can provide you with a specialist consultation about your situation, telling you everything from whether you have grounds to make a medical negligence claim to how much compensation you could be entitled to for it. What’s more, they can connect you with a No Win No Fee legal professional from our panel of lawyers to handle your case.

What Is GP / Doctor Negligence?

All healthcare professionals have an ethical and moral duty to uphold high standards of care to their patients. In a healthcare setting, you should never expect to receive substandard care. Therefore, it can be extremely distressing to discover that you’ve been caused to suffer as a result of negligence. 

Whether it’s a GP at your local surgery or a doctor at an NHS hospital, providing substandard care to patients is against the law. If you can evidence that your suffering was a result of negligence, you could have grounds to make a medical negligence claim.

By contacting one of our advisors today, you can receive a specialist consultation about your situation. What’s more, they can appoint you with a No Win No Fee legal professional from our panel of lawyers, so you can rest assured that your case is in expert hands without any financial risk involved. For more information, please continue reading or get in touch with us.

GP Negligence Claims Compensation Calculator

For many claimants, finding out how much compensation they could be entitled to receive is a key factor in their decision to bring legal proceedings. In this section, we’ll explain how medical negligence claims are generally valued. Furthermore, we’ll include some example payouts using figures from the Judicial College Guidelines, which lawyers use to value injuries.

In a typical medical negligence claim, compensation is awarded for two different types of damage – general damage and special damage. General damages can be claimed to account for any physical harm or mental anguish that your GP/doctor caused you. As the value of your general damage award is calculated according to the extent of the suffering you suffered, you’ll need to be assessed by an independent medical expert to determine this—which will take place as part of the claim.

If you decide to work with our panel of medical negligence lawyers, they can organise this appointment close to your home for you using their extensive network. The report produced following your evaluation will assess your injuries and the potential they have to cause future issues, as well as how your life will be affected by them. 

For some example payouts using figures from the Judicial College Guidelines, please take a look at the table below:

InjuryNotesAward
Illness (minor)Possibly provoked by a prescription error, this category covers minor illnesses that resolve in a short space of time. £860 to £3,710
Illness (moderate)This type of illness is more serious than the bracket above, and can lead to significant discomfort for a prolonged period of time.
£3,710 to £8,950
Failure to diagnose ectopic pregnancy
Such injuries relate to a failure to diagnose an ectopic pregnancy which may result in pain, suffering and bleeding.£3,180 to £19,170
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (severe)
Overwhelming trauma resulting in an inability to cope
£56,180 to £94,470
Psychiatric damage (severe)
Overwhelming trauma resulting in an inability to cope
£52,460 to £108,620

On the other hand, special damages compensation can be claimed to account for any financial losses that your suffering caused you. Whether you had to pay for prescriptions, care, travel or even experienced loss of earnings, you could be entitled to claim these costs back.

However, it’s important that you’re able to evidence any costs that you wish to recover, otherwise, your claim could be unsupported. This could be done by retaining receipts or providing bank statements, but it’s a crucial step towards securing the compensation that you deserve for your losses.

Could I Claim For GP Negligence Through A No Win No Fee Agreement?

Once you decide to work with us, we’ll connect you with a No Win No Fee legal professional from our panel of lawyers, so you can rest assured that your case is in expert hands without any financial risk involved.

In case you aren’t sure what this type of agreement involves, some key benefits include:

  • No upfront fees to pay or hidden fees
  • No payment is taken unless your case is won

If your lawyer wins your case for you, then they’ll take a small cut of your payout known as a success fee. This is simply to cover their legal expenses (and it’s a legally capped percentage, so don’t worry about it being extortionate). 

Do I Have A Claim Against My GP For Medical Negligence?

In a healthcare setting, you should never expect to receive substandard care. Therefore, it can be extremely distressing to discover that you’ve suffered as a result of negligence. Whether it’s a GP at your local surgery or a doctor at an NHS hospital or private hospital, providing substandard care to patients is against the law. If you can evidence that your suffering was a result of negligence, you could have grounds to make a medical negligence claim.

In this section, we’ll look at some examples of how a GP or doctor could demonstrate medical negligence. 

Diagnostic Errors By GP’s

If you sought medical help from a GP or doctor and they failed to identify your condition or even made it worse, you could be entitled to compensation. Some examples of diagnostic negligence include:

  • Failing to provide a correct diagnosis
  • Not referring a patient to a specialist for a diagnosis
  • Carrying out insufficient testing necessary to obtain a diagnosis
  • Incorrectly reading test results leading to a misdiagnosis

Whether you believe that you should have received a diagnosis but your GP/doctor failed to provide one or you feel that the diagnosis you received was wrong, you should never ignore your suspicions. In this case, seeking help from a healthcare professional could allow you to get to the root of the issue that’s concerning you, exploring alternate explanations.

Diagnostic errors could lead to prescription errors, which the NHS investigated in a 2012 report. Their findings showed that around 1 in every 20 prescriptions issued by NHS workers was wrong, with the most common incidents including:

  • Wrong dosage taken due to insufficient instructions given
  • Lack of monitoring the patients’ condition post-prescription
  • Improper checks given to patients taking multiple prescriptions at once

Treatment Errors By GP’s

Some examples of treatment errors can include:

  • Failure to conduct a physical examination
  • Insufficient consideration given to medical history
  • Prescription or medication errors
  • Poor standard of care

Surgical errors such as Never Events were investigated by the NHS in 2020. Their resulting report found that 205 serious incidents that were entirely preventable (Never Events) occurred in that year alone.  

The most common Never Events included:

  • Surgery being performed on the wrong area
  • Foreign objects being left in the body after surgery
  • Gastric tubes being misplaced leading feed to be wrongly administered
  • Medication being given via the wrong route
  • Incorrect prosthesis or implants being fitted

What Standards And Duty Of Care Should GP Care Meet?

Have you experienced suffering due to your doctor’s failures? Whether it’s a GP at your local surgery or a doctor at an NHS hospital, providing substandard care to patients could see them breach their duty of care. If you can evidence that your suffering was a result of negligence, you could have grounds to make a medical negligence claim.

Typically, grounds for negligence can be established if the situation in question can meet the following criteria:

  • The GP or doctor in question owed you a duty of care
  • This duty of care was breached by the GP or doctor
  • You suffered harm as a result of this breach by the GP or doctor

All healthcare professionals have an ethical and moral duty to uphold high standards of care to their patients. An example of these standards can be seen in the NHS Constitution, which NHS workers must follow. Some standards outlined in the constitution include:

  • Maintaining honesty and openness when communicating medical matters
  • Ensuring appropriate sensitivity and compassion is applied to each situation
  • Treating everyone with equal respect and dignity

Whatever your situation, if you can prove that your suffering was caused by the substandard care that you received, you could be entitled to compensation. To learn more about what to do if you find yourself in this situation, please continue reading. Alternatively, please don’t hesitate to contact one of our advisors today for a specialist consultation about your situation.

Rates Of Negligence By GPs

To give you an idea of how common GP/doctor negligence claims are and what they can be made for, this section will provide some recent facts and figures. 

A report made by the NHS on its medical negligence noted that there were 10,678 claims made against the organisation between 2018 and 2019 alone. And between 2019 and 2020, this increased by around 1,000. An increasing number of these cases were shown as being mediated before going to court at a rate of 6 to 1. However, the report concluded that these claims cost the organisation a total of £83.4 billion annually, regardless of mediation.

Of this statistic, medical fields that received the most claims of negligence included:

  • Emergency medicine
  • Orthopaedic surgery (of musculoskeletal systems)
  • Obstetrics (of pregnancy, labour and postpartum)

What’s more, claims valued at the highest level included those in the following medical fields:

  • Obstetrics (birth injuries and pregnancy injuries)
  • Emergency medicine 
  • Paediatrics (of infants, children and young people)
  • Orthopaedic surgery 
  • Neurology (of the nervous system, the brain and the spinal cord)

As we saw above in another NHS report on its medical negligence in 2012, the organisation noted that 1 in every 20 prescriptions given to patients was incorrect. The most common errors made by healthcare workers that resulted in these mistakes included:

  • Insufficient instructions accompanying prescriptions, resulting in patients taking incorrect doses
  • Lack of monitoring given to patients’ post-prescription, resulting in issues remaining undetected or untreated
  • Preliminary checks being neglected, resulting in patients taking multiple medications at once 

As demonstrated by these statistics, it’s not uncommon to fall victim to medical negligence. To learn more about what to do if you find yourself in this situation, please continue reading. Alternatively, please don’t hesitate to contact one of our advisors today for a specialist consultation about your situation.

Causes Of GP / Doctor Negligence

Whether the GP or doctor negligence you experience is intentional or accidental, providing substandard care to patients isn’t acceptable. 

As mentioned above, there are many reasons why medical negligence could happen, such as:

  • Failure to follow standard procedure
  • Inadequate implementation of safety measures
  • Human error, such as misdiagnosis

However, if your GP/doctor follows their duty of care that they owe you, then this will greatly minimize your chances of falling victim to medical negligence. Therefore, if you can evidence that your suffering was a result of their negligence, you could have grounds to make a medical negligence claim.

For more information on how you could make a claim against your GP or doctor, please continue reading. Alternatively, you can get in touch with our team today for a free consultation about your circumstances. Why not see how our panel of medical negligence lawyers could help your case today?

How Does The Medical Claims Process Work?

If you believe that you’ve suffered medical negligence as a result of your GP or doctor’s failings but you’re not sure whether you could make a claim, this section could help.

The NHS offers investigations to allow those involved to learn more about the incident in question. If your GP/doctor works for the NHS, then you could request an investigation to see whether their negligence was responsible for your suffering. 

Seeking help from a medical negligence lawyer can help the claims process run smoothly, leaving you to focus on your recovery. What’s more, their expertise could see your claim’s chances of success increase, as well as the payout that you’re entitled to receive. 

By contacting one of our advisors today, you can receive a specialist consultation about your situation. What’s more, they can connect you with a No Win No Fee legal professional from our panel of lawyers, so you can rest assured that your case is in expert hands without any financial risk involved. For more information, please continue reading or get in touch with us.

FAQs On GP Medical Negligence

In this section, we’ll take a brief look at some commonly asked questions from prospective claimants thinking about making a GP negligence claim.

Can you sue a GP for negligence?

It is against the law for doctors to provide their patients with substandard care. Whether it’s a GP at your local surgery or a doctor at an NHS hospital, they can be held liable for their negligence if it caused you to suffer.

What is considered doctor negligence?

Medical negligence is defined as substandard care provided by a healthcare professional. If you fall victim to GP or doctor negligence, you could make a claim against them if they failed to act as their fellow professionals would in similar circumstances.

How much can you sue a doctor for negligence?

As mentioned above, medical negligence claims cost the healthcare system a substantial amount each year. For example, a 2019 NHS report noted that there were 10,678 claims made against the organisation that year alone, costing the organisation a total of £83.4 billion.

According to the extent of damage that you’ve incurred, you could be compensated for any injuries or losses that you’ve suffered at the hands of your GP/doctor. To receive a specialist consultation about your situation, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with our team of expert advisors today. You could learn everything from whether you have grounds to make a medical negligence claim and even how much compensation you could be entitled to for it. 

Requesting A Call Back From Our Team

By contacting one of our advisors today, you can receive a specialist consultation about the GP/doctor negligence that you experienced. Unlike other companies, we’ll never charge you for this service, so you can get in touch with no obligation. Our advisors will be able to tell you whether you have grounds to make a medical negligence claim and can even estimate how much compensation you could be entitled to for it. 

What’s more, they can appoint you with a No Win No Fee legal professional from our panel of lawyers, so you can rest assured that your case is in expert hands without any financial risk involved.

To learn more about our services and how we can help support you with GP or doctor negligence claims, please don’t hesitate to get in touch with us today:

Related Information

Thanks for reading our guide to making a GP or doctor negligence claim. For some alternative resources, please follow the links below:

You’ve reached the end of our guide to GP and doctor negligence claims.

 

Guide by Vers

Edited by Ing