Accident and Emergency
This is often the first point of contact a patient will have with the NHS due to an illness or after an injury. The staff who practise in emergency medicine have skills in prevention, diagnosis and management.
Case reports
T -v- Calderdale & Huddersfield NHS Trust
The Claimant was taken to the Accident & Emergency Department at Calderdale Royal Infirmary after being knocked down by a car
and was diagnosed as having an unstable short spiral fracture of the right femur. Her leg was placed in a splint which had to be re-applied because it was the wrong size. She was admitted to the children’s ward of the hospital. She remained in hospital but there was a failure to monitor the healing process of her leg in the splint, to the extent that poor union of the femur was achieved and her leg was bent when the bone was healed and had a boney protruberance. The bowing of the leg also entailed shortening of the femur and consequently the leg itself.
The case settled for £28,000.00 which included damages for care provided to the Claimant by her parents, the cost of some reconstructive surgery on her scarring and damages for her psychological distress, as well as for the leg injuries overall and for the otherwise would have been unnecessary.
Superbugs cost the NHS millions of pounds
Thursday, 23 April 2009 00:00 | 
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Deadly superbugs such as MRSA and C difficile are costing the NHS millions of pounds in compensation every year.
The NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA), which defends claims on behalf of the NHS has released statistics which show that since 2005 the NHS has paid out £12,423,168 to victims of medical negligence who have included allegations relating to MRSA and C Difficile in their claim for damages.
Solicitors and support groups have said that the payments from the NHSLA are too rare and too low compared to the number of people who have suffered unnecessarily as a result of contracting a superbug.
Unfortunately Britain has one of the worst problems with hospital infections in Europe, despite huge political pressure for the NHS to clean up its act over the last three years.
In 2008 a survey commissioned by the Healthcare Commission showed that 1 in 4 NHS trusts in England failed to meet minimum standards on hygiene for the second year running, putting patients at considerable risk. Polls have also shown that superbugs have overtaken hospital waiting times as the number one worry for patients being treated by the NHS.
Superbug claims can prove difficult for claimants, as they must establish where they contracted the infection and that they were negligently treated. It is important that potential claimants seek advice about this aspect of their claim from a specialist solicitor to ensure they receive the maximum amount of compensation.
Notes
John Pickering and Partners LLP
About Us
Our clients are people who have suffered injury as a result of a medical accident in the UK. We are clinical and medical negligence solicitors. We handle negligence claims against hospitals, GP’s and other medical practitioners for clients across the UK.
We try to obtain maximum amounts of compensation.
We are committed to providing public funding (previously known as Legal Aid) and have a franchise from the Community Legal Services Commission. This means that they have looked at the firm carefully and approved of the way we work. They consider that we are medical negligence claims specialists. They trust us to handle medical accident claims properly.
If you are not eligible for public funding, we can offer a Conditional Fee Agreement, also known as a ‘no win, no fee’ agreement with insurance. We shall check the best method of funding your claim.
All 3 of our offices (Liverpool, Manchester and Halifax) are accredited by the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers.
Claire Horton is an experienced clinical negligence solicitor. She continues to practice as an independent funding ajudicator for the Legal Services Commission and acts on a pro-bona basis for the AvMA helpline.
We provide free initial advice to people seeking information about a potential clinical negligence claim.
If you need advice about a clinical negligence claim, contact us now for information about making a claim for compensation.