Claim type · Clinical Negligence
Clinical Negligence claims.
When healthcare providers fail to meet the expected standard of care, causing patient harm through surgical errors, misdiagnosis, or treatment mistakes.
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Typical range
£25,000 – £2,000,000
Limitation period
3 years
Prefer to choose yourself? Browse the 18 types of clinical negligence claim ↓
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§ COMMON GROUNDS
Types of Clinical Negligence claims.
Optional — you can pick the type that fits, but the assessment above already works it out from what you describe.
Surgical Errors
Wrong-site surgery, retained instruments, nerve damage, and other surgical mistakes causing patient harm.
Misdiagnosis & Delayed Diagnosis
Missed or delayed diagnosis of cancer, heart attacks, strokes, and other serious conditions leading to worse outcomes.
GP Negligence
Negligent treatment by general practitioners including failure to refer, prescribing errors, and missed symptoms in primary care.
Dental Negligence
Botched dental treatments, nerve damage from procedures, unnecessary extractions, and infections from poor dental care.
Cosmetic Surgery Negligence
Negligent cosmetic procedures including botched breast augmentation, rhinoplasty, liposuction, and non-surgical treatments.
Mental Health Negligence
Negligent psychiatric care, wrongful detention under the Mental Health Act, and failures in mental health crisis support.
Sepsis Negligence
When warning signs of sepsis are missed or treatment is delayed, allowing an overwhelming infection to cause life-changing harm or death.
Cauda Equina Syndrome Claims
A spinal emergency where nerve compression is missed or treated too late, leading to paralysis, incontinence and other devastating, often permanent injuries.
DVT & Blood Clot Claims
Deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism that should have been prevented with anticoagulants, or diagnosed when symptoms and tests pointed to a clot.
A&E Negligence
Serious conditions missed in the emergency department — patients sent home with undiagnosed heart attacks, strokes, sepsis, fractures and more.
Cancer Misdiagnosis & Delayed Diagnosis
When cancer symptoms or abnormal test results are not referred or acted on, and the delay allows the cancer to advance and worsen the outlook.
Orthopaedic Negligence
Missed or misread fractures and mismanaged bone and joint infections — including infections allowed to progress until amputation became necessary.
Vascular Negligence
Compartment syndrome and abdominal aortic aneurysms that were missed or treated too late, causing loss of limb, brain injury or death.
Cardiac Negligence
Missed heart conditions — valve disease, arrhythmias, unstable angina and endocarditis — leading to avoidable heart attacks, cardiac arrest or heart failure.
Brain & Spinal Surgery Negligence
Missed bleeds on the brain and spinal cord — including haematomas linked to anticoagulant errors — causing avoidable brain damage or paralysis.
Urology & Catheter Injury Claims
Catheter injuries to the urethra and failures to catheterise patients in urinary retention, causing permanent bladder and urinary damage.
Anaesthetic Negligence
Intubation failures causing brain injury or aspiration, and anaesthetic failures leaving patients aware and in pain during surgery — including caesareans.
Fatal Medical Negligence Claims
Claims for families who have lost a loved one to medical negligence — bereavement damages, dependency claims and support through the inquest.
About Clinical Negligence Claims
Clinical negligence (also called medical negligence) occurs when a healthcare provider — doctor, surgeon, nurse, or NHS trust — falls below the accepted standard of care, causing injury or death to a patient. Under the Bolam test, a doctor is not negligent if they acted in accordance with a practice accepted as proper by a responsible body of medical opinion.
Key elements of a clinical negligence claim include establishing that a duty of care existed, the provider breached that duty, the breach directly caused injury (causation), and the injury led to specific losses such as medical costs, loss of earnings, and pain and suffering.
Common types include surgical errors (wrong-site surgery, retained instruments), diagnostic failures (missed cancer, delayed heart attack diagnosis), medication errors, anaesthesia complications, and failures in post-operative care. The limitation period is generally 3 years from the date of injury or the date of knowledge.
The NHS Litigation Authority (NHS Resolution) handles claims against NHS bodies. The average clinical negligence claim payment is approximately £50,000, though cases involving permanent injury or death regularly exceed £1 million. Cerebral palsy cases resulting from birth injuries have produced awards exceeding £20 million.
Typical Compensation Range
Based on reported settlements and court awards. Individual case values vary significantly.
Limitation Period
3 years
May vary by jurisdiction. Don't wait — time limits apply.