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In a medical emergency, patients rely on ambulances and paramedics. They will often provide the first line of urgently needed medical care. An ambulance providing an effective and timely response could prevent serious, long-term injuries or even death. The outcome of serious conditions, such as heart attacks or strokes, could be impacted by early treatment. Critically ill patients will depend on the care provided. If you have been harmed due to a delayed ambulance, you could claim ambulance delay compensation.
In this medical negligence claims guide, we look at when you could claim for delays to ambulance treatment, such as delays in call handling, prioritisation of patients’ needs (triage), and care provided by a paramedic.
Contact our team today to claim for ambulance delays.
4.8One of the most frequently asked questions about medical negligence claims is how much compensation you could receive for your injuries. In order to estimate how much compensation you may be eligible to claim, several factors need to be taken into account. These include:
Compensation for your pain and suffering is called general damages. To estimate this compensation, your solicitor, as well as other parties, may use the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). This document contains guidelines on how much compensation may be awarded for different injuries, and in an ambulance delay claim, you will be compensated for the injuries and symptoms caused by the delay.
The table below provides examples taken from the JCG. Please be aware that row one is an illustration of what you could claim with special damages. The figure is not taken from the JCG.
| Injury | Classification | Notes | Guidelines On Compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multiple significant injuries. | Serious up to severe | Compensation for multiple, serious types of injury with financial losses. | Up to £1,000,000+ inclusive of loss of earnings and other financial losses. |
| Head/ brain injury | Moderately severe - B | Damages may be awarded based on the degree of insight the person has, their life expectancy and how much they are dependent on others. | £267,340 to £344,150 |
| Head/ brain injury | Moderate - C - i | The person has a moderate to severe level of intellectual deficit. | £183,190 to £264,340 |
| Neck injury | Severe - A - ii | Fractures or damage to the discs in the cervical spine giving rise to disability. | £80,240 to £159,770 |
| Leg injury | Severe - B - ii - very serious | An injury which leaves the person with permanent mobility problems. | £66,920 to £109,290 |
| Back injury | Severe - A - ii | This could include damage to the nerve root and loss of sensation as well as mobility impairment. | £90,510 to £107,910 |
| Elbow injury | A - severe / disabling | This is a severe or disabling injury. | £47,810 to £66,920 |
| Wrist injury | B - severe/ permanent disability | The person has a permanent and significant degree of disability. There is some useful movement still. | £29,900 to £47,810 |
| Knee injury | Moderate - B - i | Torn cartilage, dislocations and those causing minor instability may be included in this bracket. | £18,110 to £31,960 |
| Achilles tendon injury | Moderate - C | Partial rupture of the tendon or other significant injury. | £15,370 to £25,710 |
Additionally to general damages discussed above. You could also claim for special damages. These could include:
Special damages are designed to compensate people for the wider financial impact. They must have been caused by the ambulance delay.
4.8Ambulance delay compensation could compensate you for the long-term impact of delays to getting treatment. In a medical emergency, it is important that an ambulance gets to you as quickly as possible. Paramedics may be the first medical professionals to assess your condition and begin treatment. A delay could have a large impact on your health outcome. In the most serious medical emergencies delayed diagnosis or treatment could be fatal.
Our solicitors are experienced in helping people to make ambulance delay compensation claims. Contact us to find out how they could help you.
NHS 111, the 999 service and ambulance services have a responsibility to provide safe and appropriate medical care to patients. If an ambulance is delayed or paramedics provide negligent treatment you could claim compensation.
An ambulance delay is when an ambulance does not arrive within acceptable response times. There are different response times for different ambulance response categories. The categories are based on the level of medical emergency. Ambulance delays could also include delays in getting to the hospital and delays in transferring patients from the ambulance service to an A&E department.
There are several factors which could lead to ambulance delays. Factors may include:
If you have been harmed by negligent ambulance treatment contact us to make a compensation claim today.
After discussing ambulance delay compensation, we’ll examine whether ambulance delays can be considered negligent. In order to examine what is classed as clinical negligence, the following needs to be established:
Therefore, the eligibility for an ambulance delay claim is:
In order to seek an ambulance delay payout, you’ll have to prove that the ambulance staff has acted negligently to cause this breach. It wouldn’t be considered a negligent act if the ambulance was delayed on account of being stuck in traffic.
Contact our advisors for more information on medical negligence claims and to determine whether your claim meets the established criteria.
As we have noted already, it is critically important that paramedics and an ambulance reach you quickly in a medical emergency. How quickly they get to you, the decisions they make and the care they provide can have a critical impact on your recovery.
A delayed ambulance could impact conditions such as;
The failure to treat these or other conditions could lead to cardiac arrest or long-term disabilities. Paralysis could be caused by a stroke which is not diagnosed and treated early enough. In the most serious ambulance negligence cases, a patient could die.
To see if you can claim ambulance delay compensation, contact us for free using the above details.
The standard time limit applicable to ambulance negligence cases is three years. This is the limitation period in which a claim must be started. The time limit will begin from either:
These time limits are set out in the Limitation Act 1980. Whilst many cases will fall into this time limit, there are instances in which you may have longer in which to make ambulance delay claims.
In these cases, another person may make an ambulance negligence claim on behalf of the injured party. To do so, they will need to apply to the court to act as a Litigation friend.
Our team can help assess your eligibility to claim and check what time limit applies to your ambulance delay compensation claim. Please get in touch.
You will need to prove your case following an ambulance delay. To do so, you can gather evidence which shows that the ambulance delay caused you harm that was both avoidable and negligent. If you received negligent treatment which contributed to the harm you suffered, you will need to provide evidence of this.
Evidence which may support a delayed ambulance claim could include;
A No Win No Fee solicitor could provide further advice on the specific types of evidence which could support your medical negligence claim.
As we have explored in this guide, negligent delays in an ambulance getting to you or beginning treatment could have serious, adverse effects on your health. If you can show that the delay was avoidable or that negligence occurred you could claim with a No Win No Fee solicitor. Claims made on a No Win No Fee basis may be made using a Conditional Fee Agreement.
What are conditional fee agreements? This is a way to make a claim, such as a paramedic negligence claim, without the need to pay your solicitor upfront fees for their work. You will also not have to pay for ongoing fees and if your case is unsuccessful, there is nothing to pay.
If you win, you will be charged a success fee. This is a percentage of your settlement. The percentage is legally capped, meaning you keep the majority of your settlement.
For more advice on how to claim on a No Win No Fee basis, contact our team.
Below, we have provided further medical negligence claim guides.
References.
Thank you for reading our guide to ambulance delay compensation claims. If you have any questions about claiming medical negligence, please contact our team.
