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Whether a patient receives treatment in an NHS or private hospital, they are entitled to expect a safe and acceptable standard of care.

Good hospital care relies on many factors, including decisions by individual clinicians, communication and effective working relationships between healthcare teams, adequate resourcing and systems to protect patient safety. Where mistakes happen which cause avoidable harm to the patient, they are entitled to compensation for their injury.

We are experienced in helping clients claim compensation for injuries caused by NHS and private hospital negligence. Our friendly medical negligence team will identify the correct defendant and exactly what went wrong, to ensure that each client is properly compensated for their injury.

What is hospital negligence?

Hospitals are busy places. Most NHS hospitals provide a range of medical services. A patient may come into the hospital at A&E (accident and emergency) and then be treated by other departments, such as radiology (for x-rays and scans), orthopaedic surgery, and pharmacy. Depending on their medical condition, they may be referred by their GP directly to a specialist department, such as maternity, cardiology (heart), or oncology (cancer).

There are often many stages to a patient’s treatment, including referral, triage (deciding on their priority for treatment), conversations, examinations, tests or investigations, interpretation of results, diagnosis, treatment, and decisions about when to admit the patient to hospital or discharge them home.  At each stage the doctor, nurse, midwife or other healthcare provider must provide care of an acceptable standard. If substandard care at any stage causes serious injury to the patient, they may be entitled to make a claim for compensation.

The NHS takes responsibility for the errors of its hospital employees. Where a claim arises because a member of NHS staff in a hospital has caused an injury to a patient by providing negligent treatment or care, the NHS organisation (or trust) which employs them becomes the defendant to the patient’s compensation claim. The legal claim is then defended or settled by the NHS defence organisation, NHS Resolution.

Where a patient is injured as a result of negligent private medical care, the doctor or health professional who provided the care is responsible for the consequences of their negligence, including any claims. They will usually be represented by their own defence organisation, which will meet the cost of any successful claim. The hospital which provided the facilities or location where the treatment took place will not take responsibility for the individual doctor’s mistakes. The hospital may, however, be liable for any harm caused by their employees, facility or equipment.

When making a medical negligence claim for injury caused by private medical treatment, great care must be taken to identify and notify the correct defendant or defendants to the claim. 

What type of hospital mistakes can be medical negligence?

Hospital errors which may lead to a medical negligence claim include:

  • misdiagnosis;
  • delay in diagnosis and treatment of medical emergencies;
  • negligent maternity (antenatal, perinatal and post-natal) or neonatal care;
  • sending a patient home who needs admission, treatment (e.g. intravenous antibiotics or surgery), tests or a scan;
  • failing to examine the patient properly;
  • failing to take a proper medical history or note the patient’s symptoms;
  • failing to carry out investigations, such as x-rays, scans or blood tests;
  • misinterpretation of scans, x-rays or test results;
  • failing to monitor patients properly;
  • delaying or failing to refer the patient to an appropriate specialist for advice or treatment;
  • communication errors, (e.g. failing to recall a patient for treatment after test results);
  • surgical, anaesthetic and post-operative errors;
  • delaying or failing to recognise and treat infection;
  • medication or prescribing errors.
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What injuries caused by hospital negligence can I claim for?

As specialist medical negligence solicitors, we have decades of experience in helping clients claim compensation for injuries caused by hospital negligence. Our clients have suffered the most catastrophic and severely disabling injuries, including:

  • cerebral palsy, birth injury and maternal injury in childbirth;
  • brain damage and neurological injury from neonatal (newborn) and paediatric (child) care errors;
  • brain injury and severe disability from untreated head injury, stroke, and intra-cranial (within the skull) bleeding, such as subarachnoid haemorrhage (SAH) and subdural haemorrhage (SDH);
  • meningitis, septicaemia and sepsis-related brain injury, amputation and death;
  • paralysis and severe disability from cauda equina, spinal tumours and spinal injury;
  • pain, disability, psychological/psychiatric injury and reduced lifespan from untreated cancer;
  • amputation, nerve damage and sepsis from surgical errors;
  • cardiac damage, stroke, brain injury and death from undiagnosed heart attack or embolism;
  • amputation from vascular injury and ischaemia;
  • bowel damage, peritonitis and sepsis from bowel and abdominal surgery errors;
  • anaesthetic awareness, brain injury and anaphylaxis.
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Meet your team

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Susan Brown

Partner

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Julie Marsh

Partner

Richard Money-Kyrle headshot

Richard Money-Kyrle

Partner

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Sita Soni

Senior Associate - solicitor

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Vanessa Wand

Senior associate - solicitor

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Tara Byrne

Associate - Solicitor

Rachel Makore headshot

Rachel Makore

Associate - solicitor

Alpa Rana headshot

Alpa Rana

Associate - solicitor

Fran Rothwell

Fran Rothwell

Associate solicitor

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Ben Ireland

Solicitor

Alice Carley headshot

Alice Carley

Paralegal

Audrey Elmore headshot

Audrey Elmore

Medical records coordinator

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Nicky Melville

Professional support assistant

Susan Brown photo
Julie Marsh headshot
Richard Money-Kyrle headshot
Sita Soni headshot
Vanessa Wand photo
Tara Byrne photo
Rachel Makore headshot
Alpa Rana headshot
Fran Rothwell
Ben Ireland headshot
Alice Carley headshot
Audrey Elmore headshot
Nicky Melville headshot

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What our clients say

Our clients constantly recognize us as the most experienced, professional, efficient and supportive

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"Julie Marsh is a first rate litigator"

Julie Marsh is a first rate litigator who adds real value to all her cases. I have always been impressed not just by her expertise as a clinical negligence lawyer but by the way she treats every client as an individual and works on their case as if it is the most important thing in the world, which to many clients it really is.

King's Counsel

"You have given fantastic support and guidance"

Boyes Turner have a great asset in Julie Marsh, she has handled my case with such professionalism and has kept me informed at every stage over the 6 years. She has given me guidance, support and that personal touch where I could ring or email at any time and she would always answer and give me answers to any questions I had. Would recommend without hesitation. Thank you

Boyes Turner Client

"I have been impressed"

Tara Byrne kept me well informed at all stages of my claim. I have been impressed with the way my case was handled, and the time scale within which a settlement was reached.”

Boyes Turner Client

"Very Professional "

Boyes Turner helped me through one of the toughest times in my life. They were very professional whilst remaining friendly. At times the process was emotionally tough but they were very patient with me and went through everything with me until I understood it. I cannot recommend them enough. 

Boyes Turner Client

"We cannot thank Susan and her team at Boyes Turner enough"

Words cannot express how grateful we are to Susan and her team for the level of commitment and dedication shown to our family during a time which would be difficult for anyone. Susan demonstrates a calm professional manner which helped us to feel at ease. Her level of knowledge has proven to be the best in the field and we fully recommend her to anyone seeking to investigate birth injury claims. You can be confident that Susan and her team will scrutinise the medical notes thoroughly and will keep you well informed throughout the process. We are very pleased with the outcome of our child’s case and know that her work has resulted in justice being achieved. Our family will now be able to move forward in the knowledge that the finances are securely in place for our child to receive a suitable care package, purchase equipment and receive necessary lifelong therapy. We cannot thank Susan and her team at Boyes Turner enough.

Boyes Turner Client