Do the NHS settle out of court?

The majority of claims against the NHS are settled before they reach court. In 2020/21 approximately 75% of cases settled out of court.

Can you sue the NHS for emotional distress?

Emotional distress is a state of mental suffering that is usually in response to a condition, event, or pattern of events. It is possible to sue the NHS for extreme emotional distress, but in these cases, the distress or psychological injury is usually disabling; for example, if your emotional distress results in you suffering a phobia or panic attacks when faced with the incident or distressing memories of it. We have successfully sued the NHS for emotional distress. Our client was told her cancer was widespread, and surgery was not an option. She was offered palliative care. She sought the opinion of another medical professional, had surgery and survived. Our client became depressed and needed medication and counselling to help her through the trauma. We successfully sued the first hospital for psychological injury. Emotional distress can also form part of an overall claim against the NHS. In the case of Janice Johnston, who was diagnosed with a form of blood cancer that she did not have, meaning she was treated with chemotherapy she didn't need - her emotional distress was due to the wrong diagnosis and subsequent treatment; this would have formed part of her overall claim with her other injuries.

Can you sue the NHS for delayed diagnosis?

For any medical condition, the quicker it is correctly diagnosed, the better the outcome. This is particularly critical with the diagnosis of cancer. Approximately 40% of people with cancer receive a wrong or delayed diagnosis at least once before their disease is correctly diagnosed. If the delayed diagnosis of your condition has caused you harm or had a negative impact on your life or life expectancy, you may be able to pursue a claim against the NHS. We have vast experience bringing claims against the NHS for misdiagnosis and late diagnosis, particularly cancer claims.

Can you sue the NHS for death?

If a loved one has died due to the negligence of the NHS, you can make a claim. We have successfully claimed against the NHS for many clients whose loved ones have died due to NHS errors, including being given the wrong chemotherapy treatment, a delayed diagnosis of bladder cancer, misdiagnosis of lung cancer, mismanagement of birth and where doctors failed to provide a life-saving drip, and our client's daughter starved to death.

Can you sue the NHS for stillbirth?

There are over 3,500 stillbirths recorded in the UK each year. A stillbirth is a devastating and traumatic experience for any expectant parent. In the majority of these tragic cases, there is no negligence involved. It is possible to sue the NHS for stillbirth if the actions of a medical professional contributed to the death of your baby. This could be because medical professionals fail to assess the mother's risk factors, misinterpret test and scan results, do not monitor the baby adequately or fail to spot or treat a maternal infection.

Home / Expertise / Services for individuals / Suing NHS

Suing the NHS

Make a claim Case studies Our people Recent articles

The NHS provides an excellent service to millions of patients every year. However, sometimes mistakes happen, which can be life-changing to the people affected and greatly impact their families. If you’ve been a victim of negligence by the NHS, contact us today for specialist legal advice on suing the NHS.

Suing the NHS for negligence

Our expert team of NHS negligence solicitors offer free consultations for people suing the NHS for clinical negligence. Our lawyers advise people looking for NHS compensation against doctors, surgeons, midwives and other medical or healthcare professionals.

"... knows how to approach a clinical negligence case from start to finish."

Request legal advice

Name *

Postcode *

Email address *

Telephone number *

Name of hospital or GP practice providing treatment *

Please give as many details as possible on your situation *

Approximate date of treatment or incident *

How did you hear about Wright Hassall?

Further information

No win no fee >

NHS compensation payouts >

Time limits for suing the NHS >

Our cases >

Why use us? >

FAQs >

No win, no fee NHS negligence claims

Most of our NHS compensation claims are funded on a no win no, fee basis or, to use its technical term, a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). We will discuss your funding options with you during our claim assessment.

Can you sue the NHS?

The simple answer is yes; medical negligence in the NHS can happen anytime. It could occur while undertaking treatment for a specific illness, the diagnosis of a disease or condition, an accident in surgery, a routine check-up or medication error. If you have been treated negligently by any NHS professional, you may be within your rights to sue the NHS.

Is it ethical to sue the NHS?

The NHS deal with over a million patients every 36 hours, and overall, the medical teams do a fantastic job in taking care of the nation's health. However, if NHS negligence has left you with life-changing or life-limiting injuries, you will need help for the rest of your life; compensation is there to fund your future rehabilitation and care.

How much does the NHS pay in compensation?

Each year the NHS pays out billions in compensation. In 2020 - 2021 the NHS spent £2.2 billion on clinical negligence claims against the NHS.

NHS compensation payouts

The amount of compensation you receive for suing the NHS for negligence will depend on your circumstances, including your injuries or illness and the neglect you suffered. We have put together a brief compensation calculator guide to give you an indication. Please get in touch with our specialist solicitors, who can provide you with a more accurate figure based on your circumstances.

On what grounds can you sue the NHS?

You might wish to sue the NHS if their treatment was negligent, including an injury, an error during a surgical procedure, mistakes with medication, a misdiagnosis, or a late diagnosis of a condition.

Time limits for suing the NHS?

As with any medical negligence claim, there is a set time limit on when you can claim compensation from the NHS. This is three years from the 'date of knowledge', which is the date you became aware of the problem; this is usually the date the incident took place, although there are occasionally times when negligence doesn't come to light until a later date. There are a couple of exceptions to this time limit, for example, children and those with mental capacity issues.

"Rachael was extremely helpful and very thorough all through the process and gave me every confidence of a satisfactory outcome."

Derek Bayliss

How long does it take to sue the NHS?

On average most NHS claims are settled in approximately 1 - 3 years. However, this depends significantly on the case's complexity because of the amount of evidence needed from medical professionals to prove a duty of care has been breached by the NHS and assess the person's lifetime needs. We help you get the care and support you need, plus interim payments to allow you to start your recovery while your case is ongoing.

Case studies

February 9th, 2022 Settlement for tragic death of a baby

We settled a claim for a five-figure sum on behalf of our client, whose baby suffered a brain injury during birth.

Read case study

January 3rd, 2022 Six-figure post-traumatic brain injury claim

We successfully settled a six-figure claim for our client, Mr P, who was involved in a road traffic accident.

Read case study

October 8th, 2017 Wrong chemotherapy drug led to death

Mr G was suffering from cancer. As part of the treatment he had an orchidectomy (an operation to remove his testicle).

Read case study

Successful claims against the NHS

The cases we have covered below are the tip of the iceberg, but they demonstrate what can go wrong and the devastating effect on people's lives when NHS services are under so much pressure.

Stephanie Bell

We acted for the family of Stephanie Bell, who died at University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust after a routine bowel operation. The inquest found the hospital guilty of 'gross failings' when doctors failed to spot post-operative complications and take remedial action.

Stephanie was admitted to hospital to remove part of her bowel to cure chronic constipation, which had blighted her from an early age. She initially made a good recovery but needed a second operation to re-attach her bowel, where she suffered a blockage that stopped her digesting her food.

Doctors at University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust overlooked the issue and discharged her rather than putting her on a drip and monitoring her while in hospital. This resulted in Stephanie losing 13kg in weeks. She was admitted to hospital again for further surgery, but she suffered multiple organ failure and died.

Daniel Kunigiskis

We represented the family of a baby who died after failings at Warwick Hospital; the family were awarded a five-figure payout and an apology. Daniel Kunigiskis died aged just four days after errors made at Warwick Hospital during his delivery. Daniel suffered a lack of oxygen during the birth, which resulted in a severe brain injury.

There was an inquest into his death, where it was explained how three different midwives failed to read his mother's antenatal notes, which showed her as a medium risk patient. Furthermore, one of the midwives had a history of making mistakes and a failure by staff to monitor the foetal heartbeat properly.

A consultant obstetrician indicated that if he had been aware of problems during Daniel's birth, he could have ensured delivery 45 minutes earlier – which would have meant Daniel would have survived.

Read more about our successful medical negligence cases.

How to sue the NHS

Suing the NHS can be a complex process, but we will guide you through each step. As with any medical negligence case, there is a process to follow. The steps are checking the time limits of your claim, funding your claim, proving the NHS failed in their duty of care; this will be done with the help of expert medical professionals, valuing your claim and the legal process.

It is helpful if you can:

Keep notes about your treatment and the effect your injuries have had on your everyday life.
Keep all relevant documents to your treatment.
Record all related expenses for travel to appointments, any privately funding rehabilitation etc.
Keep a 'care' diary to record the time you spend looking after a family member who is the victim of clinical negligence or that family members spend looking after you.

Making a complaint against the NHS

Making a medical negligence claim against the NHS can be emotional and challenging. It may be that you feel the NHS had let you down, and rather than financial compensation, you want an acknowledgement of what went wrong and an apology for what you have been through. In these cases, we would advise you to make a formal complaint to the hospital or doctor in the first instance - we can help you with this.

However, if the outcome of your treatment has left you needing financial assistance, then a claim for NHS negligence may be the only viable option.

Why use us when suing the NHS?

If a medical mistake or accident was due to a lack of judgement or incompetence by a doctor, nurse, surgeon or any healthcare professional, then you will need the expertise of a medical negligence solicitor to see if you have a claim against the NHS. Suing the NHS can be complex, but our team have the knowledge and experience to guide you through the process.

Our Head of Medical Negligence, Jeanette Whyman and her team deal with all types of NHS negligence claims; these can be a result of poor surgery or surgical errors, death, injury, cancer treatment and misdiagnosis and dental negligence. She deals with clinical negligence claims against the NHS, private hospitals and other healthcare practices.

Jeanette is recognised as an authority on medical negligence and NHS compensation. She is a member of the Law Society Clinical Negligence Panel, the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers and Action Against Medical Accidents.

We can provide immediate legal advice on your NHS negligence claim anywhere in the UK from our offices located in the heart of Warwickshire. We can also offer hospital and home visits for people who cannot visit our offices. We understand this can be a difficult, stressful time for you and your family, so that we will deal with your claim with care, sensitivity and compassion.

FAQs

Do the NHS settle out of court?

The majority of claims against the NHS are settled before they reach court. In 2020/21 approximately 75% of cases settled out of court.
Can you sue the NHS for emotional distress?

Emotional distress is a state of mental suffering that is usually in response to a condition, event, or pattern of events.

It is possible to sue the NHS for extreme emotional distress, but in these cases, the distress or psychological injury is usually disabling; for example, if your emotional distress results in you suffering a phobia or panic attacks when faced with the incident or distressing memories of it.

We have successfully sued the NHS for emotional distress. Our client was told her cancer was widespread, and surgery was not an option. She was offered palliative care. She sought the opinion of another medical professional, had surgery and survived.

Our client became depressed and needed medication and counselling to help her through the trauma. We successfully sued the first hospital for psychological injury.

Emotional distress can also form part of an overall claim against the NHS. In the case of Janice Johnston, who was diagnosed with a form of blood cancer that she did not have, meaning she was treated with chemotherapy she didn't need - her emotional distress was due to the wrong diagnosis and subsequent treatment; this would have formed part of her overall claim with her other injuries.
Can you sue the NHS for delayed diagnosis?

For any medical condition, the quicker it is correctly diagnosed, the better the outcome. This is particularly critical with the diagnosis of cancer. Approximately 40% of people with cancer receive a wrong or delayed diagnosis at least once before their disease is correctly diagnosed.

If the delayed diagnosis of your condition has caused you harm or had a negative impact on your life or life expectancy, you may be able to pursue a claim against the NHS.

We have vast experience bringing claims against the NHS for misdiagnosis and late diagnosis, particularly cancer claims.
Can you sue the NHS for death?

If a loved one has died due to the negligence of the NHS, you can make a claim.

We have successfully claimed against the NHS for many clients whose loved ones have died due to NHS errors, including being given the wrong chemotherapy treatment, a delayed diagnosis of bladder cancer, misdiagnosis of lung cancer, mismanagement of birth and where doctors failed to provide a life-saving drip, and our client's daughter starved to death.
Can you sue the NHS for stillbirth?

There are over 3,500 stillbirths recorded in the UK each year. A stillbirth is a devastating and traumatic experience for any expectant parent. In the majority of these tragic cases, there is no negligence involved.

It is possible to sue the NHS for stillbirth if the actions of a medical professional contributed to the death of your baby. This could be because medical professionals fail to assess the mother's risk factors, misinterpret test and scan results, do not monitor the baby adequately or fail to spot or treat a maternal infection.

Thankfully most of the treatment performed by the NHS is to a high standard, with patients feeling they have been well looked after throughout their diagnosis and treatment.

However, when surgical procedures, medical diagnoses or clinical treatment go wrong, the impact on your life or your loved ones can be both dramatic and devastating.

Suing the NHS is not an easy decision, but our NHS negligence solicitors can help guide you through your options. Please call them on 01926 886688 or request a free call back.