Medical Negligence Solicitors

Hospital Negligence Claims

Medical negligence can happen in any healthcare setting in the UK. Whether you were treated in an NHS or private hospital, our specialist hospital negligence solicitors can help you rebuild your life.

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No Win No Fee claims
Expert medical negligence lawyers approved by the SRA
More than 15 years of experience in dealing with complex cases
Client success across England and Wales

Can I make a hospital negligence claim?

Going into hospital can be stressful. Whether it’s a planned appointment or an emergency, you should always expect an appropriate standard of care. Legally, healthcare professionals must meet this duty of care to you.

However, sometimes this isn’t the case – and when medical treatment goes wrong, it can have a huge impact on your life. If you’ve been affected by sub-standard medical care, you could have grounds to make a medical negligence claim.

In most cases, hardworking staff in hospitals provide excellent care and the necessary treatment we need to treat injuries or illnesses. But things can go wrong.

NHS Resolution Data shows that over 13,000 clinical claims were resolved in 2023/24 alone. This figure includes cases where breaches of duty have negatively affected people’s health and well-being. Negligence can occur anywhere in a healthcare journey, from diagnosis and prescriptions to major surgical errors.

What is hospital negligence?

Hospital negligence is medical negligence that occurs within a hospital setting. The term encompasses mistakes, errors and instances of substandard care that cause you either injury or illness or make an existing health condition worse.

Negligent treatment can be carried out by a doctor, nurse, consultant or any other member of staff working within the hospital. It could be poor-quality treatment, or perhaps the result of an incorrect diagnosis or errors during surgery.

You might also have a claim for hospital negligence if a doctor or nurse made an error in the course of your treatment which resulted in you suffering an injury or failing to recover in the way that you should have.

From misinterpreted blood tests leading to cancer misdiagnosis to incorrect amputations, or other catastrophic Never Events, the potential circumstances that warrant suing a hospital for negligence are broad and complex.

Did you experience negligence in hospital?

We specialise in helping people and families bring claims for a broad range of hospital negligence cases, which can include injuries and incidents such as:

Amputation errors
A&E negligence
Errors in pregnancy treatment and birth injury claims
Brain injuries, including traumatic brain injury
Heart surgery errors
Many types of cancer misdiagnosis
Failure to treat a condition properly and misdiagnosis negligence
Surgical errors, including incorrect procedures.
Missed fractures

If you feel you’ve suffered due to medical negligence, you could make a compensation claim. Even if you can’t see the type of case that best describes your experience listed above, you may still have a clinical negligence claim.

Proven client success: How we helped Gill

A hospital is the one place we trust to help us if we’re injured or taken ill. But if things go wrong and the care you receive is not up to standard, there could be serious, long-term and even life-changing effects for you and your loved ones.

Dealing with the aftermath can be a challenge that you’re not prepared for. That’s where making a hospital negligence claim with Been Let Down could help. We represented Gill and were successful in our action against the hospital trust. Here is Gill’s story.

Why make a hospital negligence claim?

Our hospital negligence lawyers encourage you to stand up for your right to quality healthcare. If your hospital stay, A&E visit or scheduled treatment has left you with unnecessary pain and suffering plus financial losses we believe it’s only right that you seek compensation.

A hospital negligence claim can also cover multiple conditions that were caused by something that happened to you while in hospital. These could include:

Paralysis from negligent surgery
Delays that made a condition worse or even no longer treatable
Lifelong conditions caused by birth delays e.g. cerebral palsy.
Premature death or a reduction in life expectation.

Ultimately, you could make a hospital negligence claim for any avoidable pain or suffering you believe is the result of something not going right while in hospital. Talk to our experts if you feel you have a case or are still unsure. We’ll let you know where you stand.

Our expertise

“At Been Let Down, we fight for those who have suffered due to hospital negligence, whether at an NHS or private facility. We understand how devastating medical errors can be, and our expert solicitors know how to command fair compensation for our clients. You trusted the system and we will make sure it’s held accountable. Your long-term recovery starts with the right legal team by your side.”

Hospital negligence FAQs

At a time of pain and emotional distress, we understand that money isn’t necessarily going to be your priority. Health and well-being should always come first. However, if you have lost earnings that your family rely on, it becomes a priority very quickly.

We may be able to assist with the rehabilitation and adaptations needed to get back on the road to recovery. This offers relief to anyone dealing with the aftermath of hospital negligence, including any costs relating to lost income, treatment or rehabilitation.
For families with a loved one who suffered a spinal injury or traumatic brain injury, a claim for hospital negligence could cover the cost of home modifications or a new property Our solicitors look at the bigger picture to get the compensation you need to rebuild your life together.

By making a claim, you can also change the way things are done in future so no one else suffers the same experience as you. It can highlight areas for improvement or changes in working practices and help lay the foundations for safer hospital care in the future.

We understand that the idea of making a hospital negligence claim against the National Health Service might make you feel uncomfortable.

However, it is important to know that if you decide to claim against the NHS, any compensation paid will not be taken from or impact the budget for frontline services. Our solicitors will also assess cases to ensure that only those with merit are brought against the NHS.

Under the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS Resolution makes sure that claims against the NHS are investigated properly and compensation is paid fairly. It is a separate organisation responsible for dealing with claims on behalf of the NHS, paying any compensation from a dedicated budget.

Yes, you can. If you’ve been unlucky enough to encounter hospital negligence, you have the right to bring forward a case against the healthcare provider. This could be one of the facilities in an NHS Hospital Trust or a specialist hospital. In the case of private healthcare, claims can be made against the company that owns and runs the hospital – or an individual clinician if they have private professional indemnity insurance.

No matter where the negligence occurred in your healthcare journey, we encourage you to seek answers and justice.

With vast experience in claims against the NHS and private hospitals, you can rely on our expertise to help you win your case. You can sue for negligence in hospital no matter where it occurred.

There is a high bar to proving negligence: the clinician needs to have acted in a way that no reasonable responsible clinician would have acted. To win your hospital negligence claim and secure compensation, we will need sufficient evidence to prove this.

After you start a claim with us, we assess your situation by reviewing your medical records, including test results, treatment notes and prescriptions. This evidence helps us to determine whether your claim has a reasonable chance of success.
If we’re satisfied that that is does, we then ask an independent medical experts to confirm in writing that the treatment you received fell below the required standard and that any identified breaches of duty caused or materially contributed to your avoidable injury and or loss and but for the negligence your injury and or loss would have been avoided, or measurably less.

At Been Let Down, we can help you understand if negligence was involved. Please get in touch with our team of legal experts for a free, no-obligation consultation about your experience.

Our medical negligence solicitors can help if you have suffered an injury, been misdiagnosed or received the wrong treatment at any NHS or private hospital.

Your first step is to get in touch with Been Let Down’s specialist team today for help and guidance with your claim. Our free initial consultation will help us to assess if making a claim is in your best interests. Our hospital negligence lawyers will listen to you to understand what happened and will advise you on the next steps.

As the claim process continues, we’ll update you at each stage until a final decision is made.

Most hospital negligence claims are settled out of court. The 2023/24 annual report by NHS Resolution found that 81% of cases were resolved without ever starting court proceedings. Of the cases when formal proceedings were issued only around 1% went to trial.

So, in most cases, the matter will settle long before a victim ever needs to attend court. However, you should know that your claim could possibly proceed to court, but this depends on the facts of your case. If it does, we will guide you through every step.

Cost is the main concern for many when considering pursuing a claim.

At Been Let Down, we’re pleased to offer most of our hospital negligence legal support on a No Win No Fee basis. This means that if you don’t win your case, you won’t pay us a penny.

If we’re successful and you are awarded compensation, you will pay us a proportion of your financial award. This is typically capped at 25% but varies according to each case. After your consultation, your solicitor will discuss our funding options with you.

Yes. The time limit for claims is three years from the date of the negligence or in some circumstances three years from the date you knew, or ought to have known, the care was negligent

If you’re aware of the situation as soon as it occurs, you could start your claim on the same day as the error or negligence. Our advice is to pursue a hospital negligence claim as soon as you can.

You can claim on behalf of a child at any time until their 18th birthday. Once they have turned 18, they have three years to make a claim themselves. You can also make a hospital negligence claim on behalf of an adult who does not have the mental capacity to make a claim themselves, as specified in the Mental Capacity Act 2005.

If your claim is successful, the next step is to receive your compensation. Hospital negligence claims are not set amounts, each one varies with specific circumstances.

We will consider your past, current and likely future financial losses incurred. Using the Judicial College Guidelines as an industry-approved reference, we will work out a figure that we think best reflects the pain, suffering and loss you have experienced.

Your financial award will depend on the severity of your case, but you can check the average medical negligence claim payouts for a rough estimate of what you might win.

Settlements on behalf of or involving children or persons who lack mental capacity, will require Court approval and the compensation paid in to an appropriate fund / account.