How do i claim medical negligence?

wigglers

I was having a wound vac machine fitted as a wound i had wasn't healing, after getting me into hospital the surgeon kept me in for 8 days and three dressing changes of the vac dressing, never was it excruciatingly painful or large exodate levels coming out. Infact the surgeon said in the 8days i had it in the wound had shrunk to half the size.
I was discharged and within a week on the third dressing change a nurse changed it differently and. Kept one long bit of foam in.
Over the weekend the exodate seeped trough and unbeknown to me was just burning my skin red raw where the tract is. The. Machine smelled which i know know. Is my flesh burning. The canisters filled up three times and it was agony
I have photos of 24hours after they took the vac off after the burns, they have burnt around the wound and from my wound to my waist.
I have made a complaint to the local body and sent photos to my gp but now i cant even go back in vac as its too badly burnt and needing district nurses to come out once a day. Back well past stage one. 
I don't know weather to contact a no win no fee company or an actual solicitor etc?
Please is anyone able to guide me?
I had my op on July 29th and they got me back in and on vac 28th sept so i feel very let down and demoralised also not even sure if the burn scars will go. 
Thanks for your advice Matthew

JJ_Egan

Consult a medical soliciter .

wigglers

Whys it been blanked out? Is that the best way forward? 

theoretica

You might find it worthwhile to talk to PALS https://www.nhs.uk/nhs-services/hospitals/what-is-pals-patient-advice-and-liaison-service/

It may be too early to actually start any legal steps - you don't yet know of any long term effects.

elsien

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/health/nhs-and-social-care-complaints/complaining-about-the-nhs/taking-your-complaint-against-the-nhs-to-court/clinical-negligence-in-the-nhs-taking-legal-action/

Which contains this passage:

If you’ve suffered an injury as a result of medical treatment, this may be referred to as a ‘medical accident’ or ‘patient safety incident’. This doesn’t mean that your treatment was necessarily negligent. You can claim compensation only if it can be shown ‘on the balance of probability’ that:

• your treatment was carried out negligently, that is, the care you received fell below medically acceptable standards, and
• this directly caused your injury.

You can continue with the formal complaints process and consider whether or not to follow a negligence claim further down the line when cause/long term effects are easier to ascertain. 

wigglers

I've contacted pals but as it's the district nurses they don't cover it. I have sent a competing to the clinical commissioning group for the area. But the nurse that came today said the one that did it has to take her competency training again. And gave me the customer services number for their company. So clearly they hehe injured me through not knowing what they were doing!  I just need to know what avenue to go down. 

sheramber

https://www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/about-the-nhs/how-to-complain-to-the-nhs/

Contact your local clinical commissioning group (CCG) for complaints about secondary care, such as hospital care, mental health services, out-of-hours services, NHS 111 and community services like district nursing, for example.

Every CCG will have its own complaints procedure, which is often displayed on its website.

Find contact details for CCGs

macman

Bear in mind that medical negligence cases can be extremely expensive and long drawn-out to prosecute. For a start you will need to commission independent medical reports, at your own expense, and potentially expert  evidence as witnesses in court, should the claim not be settled prior.
Are you in a position to bear these costs, without guarantee of recovery from the defendant?

Sandtree

macman said:

Are you in a position to bear these costs, without guarantee of recovery from the defendant?

This is where ATE insurance comes in that is bought by your conditional funding solicitor... some do cover disbursements and others don't and so its critical to ensure when appointing a "no win, no fee" solicitor that you are clear what is payable on an unsuccessful claim (the solicitors fee wont be, hence the name, but disbursements may be).

No settlement can be made, if claiming via a sol, until the full prognosis is known which can be months or years after an injury and so there is little point rushing into anything... the one thing about conditional funding is that it gets expensive if you decide to withdraw the claim because ATE insurance doesnt cover change of mind.  Just make sure you keep decent records of the wound, its impact on your life, who you speak to when etc. These will be useful later should you decide to go down a claim route.