NHS compensation

fluffymuffy · 26 October 2022 at 11:17PM

I've lost over a year of my life due to misdiagnosis through negligence on the part of an NHS consultant. This year I've spent over 6 months in bed, and three weeks in two different hospitals. During this time I have had no income and was not able to claim benefits because I didn’t have the support of doctors and was told I was a "time waster" when I was actually critically ill.

Now I have a diagnosis and am receiving treatment but am unlikely to ever fully recover. My condition should have been treated within 48 hours, not over a year later. I have to travel to a different part of the country for treatment, which involves a couple of nights in a hotel as well as transport costs. I've done this twice already and have at least twice more to come. (Sorry to be vague - my condition is very specific and I prefer to be anonymous).

I have a formal complaint going through my local hospital, which I expect will be upheld. I'm sorry to have to do this while the NHS is on it's knees, but I need to recover my lost income. Has anyone got any advice on how to go about this? I know there are claims companies, but I expect they would add a lot of legal fees. Is this something I can do myself?

DullGreyGuy · 26 October 2022 at 11:32PM

There is no legal requirement to have representation if you are capable of self representing... there will always be a big spread of opinions on if saving legal costs means you get a better settlement as everyone is quids in or if you are taken for a ride as you dont know better.

You do need to be clear on your legal rights and breakdown your losses in a logical way. For example you mention treatment is requiring travelling costs... to the best of my knowledge there is no legal requirements for every treatment to be offered locally.

You will ultimately need an appropriate medical expert to opine on the likely outcome on if you had received treatment earlier -v- the outcome based on the actual treatment. It will also need to consider how well patients respond to care

Sncjw · 30 October 2022 at 2:44PM

In regards to travelling it sounds like that it's a very specalist condition that only very few know and can treat it. Maybe that's also why it took a while to diagnose.

MalMonroe · 30 October 2022 at 4:12PM

Sncjw said:

In regards to travelling it sounds like that it's a very specalist condition that only very few know and can treat it. Maybe that's also why it took a while to diagnose.

Be that as it may, at the outset the OP - who was seriously ill, had no income yet and was unable to claim benefits because they didn’t have the support of doctors and was told they were a "time waster" when they were actually critically ill.

MalMonroe · 30 October 2022 at 4:24PM

Hi, I'm so sorry that this happened and hope that the following links are useful.

In the first instance, before even considering contacting any organisation that will charge you a fortune, you should think about contacting the hospital or hospitals involved - information about how to proceed is in the first three links below -

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

https://www.england.nhs.uk/contact-us/complaint/

https://resolution.nhs.uk/services/claims-management/advice-for-claimants/

Sometimes this kind of case can be settled 'in house', so to speak.

Please don't feel intimidated about contacting the NHS, either, because you haven't done anything wrong.

And if it should come to that, there is some information in the following link from Citizens Advice about help with legal costs.

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/law-and-courts/legal-system/finding-free-or-affordable-legal-help/

I do hope that this information is helpful in some way. I understand your reluctance to batter our already impoverished NHS but you do have some rights.

I wish you all the very best.

fluffymuffy · 1 November 2022 at 3:14PM

MalMonroe said:

I do hope that this information is helpful in some way. I understand your reluctance to batter our already impoverished NHS but you do have some rights.

I wish you all the very best.

Thanks very much for this - it's really useful.