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.
Carers Week - 14.06.2010 to 20.06.2010
Friday, 11 June 2010 15:35 | 
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Everyone at some point in their life will need someone to help look after them. However, for many people they rely on carers on a daily basis for their whole life. The level of care needed varies from person to person. There are almost 6 million carers in the UK alone.[1]
Carers Week campaign was established some years ago to recognise the contribution and hard work of carers. 2010 is the 10th year that Carers Week has been held. The aim of carer’s week is to highlight the many issues that carer’s face some of which include:
- Why carers need to be supported
- How carers miss out on things that most people take for granted
- What changes need to be made to help carers
Carers this year are encouraged to talk about their lives and how caring has impacted on them. Many things that we take for granted such as going for a meal, going on holiday or even just relaxing are things that carers often feel unable to do.
The UK’s carers are invaluable; they provide care for someone who is ill, frail or disabled and they save the economy £87 billion which is the same as the cost of running the NHS.[2]
Due to the fact that many carers often have to give up work many suffer from financial difficulties. The main carers benefit, Carers Allowance is only £53.10 for a minimum of 35 hours. Carers often feel that the work they do goes unrecognised by employers, GPs, social workers, friends and other family members.
For information on Carers Week and the various events which are taking place throughout the UK please click here.
Many of the clients that we deal with have become disabled in some way after suffering a medical accident. They need help and assistance to do everyday tasks. When a medical accident occurs much of the focus is on the patient and how such an accident has impacted on their quality of life and how it will affect them in the long term. However, such accidents impact on other people who are part of the patient’s life. For many of our clients they rely on help from family members and/or friends. While most family members and friends are only too happy to assist it does have an impact on their own lives. They often find that they have to give up work; they are unable to pop out when they want, and they often feel that such an accident has affected their own quality of life.
When someone has suffered as a consequence of negligent medical treatment, one of the things we claim for is the cost of the care and assistance required by that person, it does not matter whether or not the care was paid for.
If you are now caring for someone who has been undergoing medical treatment and you are concerned about what has happened to them please contact the Clinical Negligence Team at John Pickering and Partners LLP, please click here for details of our solicitors who are based in Liverpool, Manchester and Halifax.
[1] Census 2001
[2] Carers UK/Leeds University 2007
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 who is based in our Manchester office. She continues to practice as an independent funding ajudicator for the Legal Services Commission and acts on a pro-bono basis for the AvMA helpline.
For further advice on medical negligence in Liverpool please also contact Rachel Donovan and for Halifax contact Ruth Davies, who are both experienced in the field of clinical negligence.
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.