Find a clinical negligence solicitor in England & Wales: misdiagnosis, surgical error, birth injury, NHS and private treatment claims and the Bolam test.
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A clinical negligence solicitor brings claims against hospitals, GPs, dentists and private practitioners for treatment that fell below a reasonable standard and caused harm: delayed diagnosis, surgical error, medication mistakes, birth injury and failures to obtain informed consent under Montgomery v Lanarkshire. The claim must show both breach of duty, judged by the Bolam and Bolitho tests, and causation, and it depends on independent expert evidence. Claims against the NHS are handled by NHS Resolution under the Pre-Action Protocol for the Resolution of Clinical Disputes.
Almost all clinical negligence claims are funded by a conditional fee agreement with after-the-event insurance for the expert and court fees, which are substantial. Legal aid remains available for severe neurological injury at birth. Success fees are capped at twenty-five per cent of general damages and past losses. Ask what the medical records and the expert reports will cost and who bears that risk if the claim fails.
General information about England & Wales law and practice, not advice on your matter. The practitioners listed on this page give that advice.
That the treatment fell below the standard of a reasonable body of practitioners in that field, the Bolam test as refined by Bolitho, and that the failure caused injury you would otherwise have avoided. Both limbs need independent expert evidence, and causation is often the harder of the two.
Three years from the treatment or from the date you first knew that your injury was significant and attributable to the treatment, under section 14 of the Limitation Act 1980. For a child, three years from their eighteenth birthday; for a person lacking capacity, time does not run. Complaints to the NHS do not stop the clock.
The NHS complaints procedure can give you answers and an apology, and the response is often useful evidence, but it is not a substitute for a claim and it does not extend the limitation period. A solicitor can run both in parallel.
Clear days under CPR 2.8, a limitation register, hearing checklists and the weekly court list.