When you have a medical condition, swift treatment is often essential to ensure the best possible outcome. With serious illnesses, such as cancer or a heart condition, any delays in treatment can have devastating consequences, including risk to the patient’s life.
If you or a loved one have been harmed due to delays in treatment that you believe were due to medical negligence, you may be able to claim compensation.
Claiming delayed treatment compensation can help you deal with the long-term impact on you or your loved one’s health and lifestyle.
Our team has been recognised by Chambers & Partners and the Legal 500, the two leading client guides to the legal profession, for our skill in handling negligence claims, including delayed treatment claims.
To arrange your free consultation on starting a delayed treatment negligence claim, please call us on 0333 123 9099, email us at enquiries@ibbclaims.co.uk or fill in our contact form to request a call back.
Medical negligence claims can be challenging to prove. So, your case should be carefully prepared from the outset to ensure the best possible chance of a fair outcome and to maximise the level of delayed treatment compensation you are able to receive.
You therefore need to have the support of specialist clinical negligence solicitors as soon as possible to make sure no key details are missed, and all angles are explored when building your case.
IBB Claims’ clinical negligence team are highly experienced in compensation claims for negligent delays in treatment. We offer empathetic, practical legal advice and guidance with the goal of giving you the strongest possible claim while keeping things as straightforward and hassle-free for you as we can.
We offer a free initial consultation for all clinical negligence claims so we can get a clear understanding of your situation and give a realistic assessment of whether we believe you have a delayed treatment claim worth pursuing.
Where we believe your claim justifies further investigation, we are usually able to offer a no-win no-fee agreement, meaning there is normally no upfront cost to start a compensation claim for negligent treatment delays with IBB.
To start a delayed treatment negligence compensation claim, call us today on 0333 123 9099. Alternatively, you can email us at enquiries@ibbclaims.co.uk or fill in our contact form to request a call back
Our expertise with claims for negligent delays in treatment
Our medical negligence lawyers regularly support clients all over England and Wales with a wide range of delayed treatment claims.
We are able to secure substantial compensation for our clients who have experienced a delay in medical treatment due to issues including:
- Misdiagnosis or late diagnosis of a medical condition
- Failure to order appropriate diagnostic tests or correctly interpret test results
- Failure to refer a patient to the appropriate specialist for treatment
- Negligent record-keeping
- Failure to follow up
In most cases, our years of experience and strong alternative dispute resolution skills mean we can resolve delayed treatment claims out of court. This means that not only can you typically avoid the stress and uncertainty of a court hearing, it also typically allows us to resolve claims and receive your delayed treatment compensation faster.
However, if court action is required to secure a fair result, our team is highly experienced in court proceedings, allowing us to offer the very best support and representation for pre-trial negotiations and during court hearings.
Our team has been recognised by Chambers & Partners and the Legal 500, the two leading client guides to the legal profession, for our skill in handling negligence claims, including delayed treatment claims.
Further information about delayed treatment negligence
The following articles provide further information about specific issues related to delayed treatment and clinical negligence:
Why NHS delays could lead to a rise in clinical negligence claims
Cancer delays 'leave patients at risk'
The Symptoms of a Brain Tumour: Why Your GP May Miss the Signs
Our no win no fee delayed treatment claims service
Our conditional fee agreements (commonly called ‘no win, no fee’ claims) mean that your financial situation need never be a barrier to your ability to pursue compensation for negligent delays in treatment.
As long as our team consider your claim to have a reasonable chance of success, we can use a conditional fee agreement to allow you to avoid having to pay anything upfront to start a claim. Instead, you will only need to contribute towards these costs if your delayed treatment claim is successful and you are awarded delayed treatment compensation.
We will make the likely costs involved in pursuing your delayed treatment negligence claim clear from the outset, including how the final fees will be calculated.
What counts as a negligent delay in medical treatment?
For a delay in treatment to be considered negligent, we will need to be able to demonstrate that:
- Errors were made that meant the care received fell below medically acceptable standards.
- Those errors directly caused or contributed to delays in your treatment.
- The delay in treatment caused damage to your health that would not have occurred if competent treatment had been provided promptly.
If we are able to prove this, we will usually be able to claim delayed treatment compensation from the responsible party.
Can you sue the NHS for a delay in treatment?
Yes, if NHS care falls below medically acceptable standards, you may be able to make a claim for delayed treatment compensation.
Some people are anxious about suing the NHS because of the vital role it plays in providing free healthcare. However, mistakes sometimes happen, and if an NHS professional was negligent in their care towards you, you are entitled to ask them to admit it and to correct their mistake by paying you compensation.
What evidence do you need to prove delayed treatment was due to medical negligence?
We normally rely on various types of evidence to demonstrate that medical negligence was a factor in treatment delays.
Types of evidence we typically rely on include:
- Medical records
- Witness testimony
- Evidence from independent medical consultants
Making sure this evidence is collected and presented in the right way and that all relevant details are uncovered requires a high degree of skill and experience with these specific types of claims, so specialist legal guidance is a must.
How much compensation can you claim for delayed treatment negligence?
The level of compensation you can secure for delayed treatment negligence will depend on the severity of your injuries and what impact this has had on your overall health and lifestyle.
You can typically claim two different types of damages for negligent delays in treatment:
Special and future damages – for specific past costs incurred before the date of settlement, e.g. paying for private medical treatment, lost income etc., as well as future losses and expenses, including private medical treatment and future loss of earnings.
General damages – for non-financial losses, e.g. pain and suffering and lifestyle changes
Our medical negligence solicitors will provide a highly accurate valuation for your delayed treatment claim at the outset, ensuring you have a clear picture of what compensation we may be able to secure for you.
Time limits for delayed treatment negligence claims
There are strict time limits for bringing any kind of medical negligence claim, including those related to negligent delays in treatment.
If you are bringing a claim for negligence delays in your own treatment, you will normally have three years to do so, either from the date the negligence occurred or the date you became aware of it.
If you are bringing a claim on behalf of someone under-18, time does not run until their 18th birthday. They would then have a further three years to bring their own delayed treatment claim if this had not already been taken care of.
If negligent delays in treatment have led to the death of a loved one, you will normally have three years from the date of death to bring a claim.
If you are bringing a delayed treatment claim for someone without the mental capacity to do so themselves, e.g. due to severe learning difficulties, there is no time limit to start a claim.
Get in touch with our expert delayed treatment claims solicitors today
To arrange your free consultation on starting a delayed treatment negligence claim, please call us on 0333 123 9099, email us at enquiries@ibbclaims.co.uk or fill in our contact form to request a callback.
