Rise In Patients With No Choice But To Make Medical Negligence No Win No Fee Claims
It is predicted that more patients than ever before will be left with no choice but to bring medical negligence no win no fee claims against the NHS this year. Errors on the part of medical professionals leaving patients unable to work, in the short or long term, have lead to this increase. In the aftermath of such errors, compensation following medical negligence no win no fee claims pays for ongoing care and supports patients who are unable to work, whether in the long or short term.
Now, regulations introduced at the beginning of April this year force NHS Trsuts to register with the care watchdog, the Care Quality Commission and to report errors to a central database, albeit anonymously. Patient groups state that the regulations are not strict enough. They fear that deaths caused by negligence are being recorded as natural causes or untreatable injury. They also claim that when a patient dies as a result of negligence, their family is kept in the dark about the cause of death.
According to Department of Health figures, 500,000 patients are injured every year as a result of NHS negligence. Nonetheless, the figures show that only 30,000 formal complaints are made per year and only 6,000 medical negligence no win no fee claims are launched. This fact appears to indicate that a relatively small proportion of patients are fully aware of their rights to make a medical negligence no win no fee claim. Patient groups are arguing that this is because of a lack of transparency meaning that they may not even be aware of any errors which occurred during their treatment.
Last year £870 million of compensation was paid following medical negligence no win no fee claims, paying for ongoing care of injured patients and supporting those that needed time off work. However, the NHS litigation authority estimates that it could face as much as £10 billion of compensation payouts based on accident reports from hospitals.
Sadly, due to lack of funding for training, errors seem set to continue. This in turn means that more patients will lose out on their health, independence and financial freedom. Although medical negligence no win no fee claims aim to get justice, we should hope that care improves.
