Whiston Hospital Negligence Claims Guide

By Olivia James. Last updated 10th January 2023. Welcome to our Whiston Hospital negligence claims guide. On this page, you will find a detailed online guide that covers the legal process of making a claim for clinical negligence at Whiston Hospital.

Whiston Hospital negligence claims

Whiston Hospital negligence claims

We support this guide by presenting real-life examples of successful claims. By the time you have finished reading this guide, you should understand how to proceed with your own claim with the assistance of a personal injury lawyer.

Here at Accident Claims UK, we provide help to people who believe they have been harmed by the actions or omissions of medical professionals.

We can provide you with a personal injury solicitor who is experienced in processing personal injury claims on behalf of claimants. If you have questions that this guide does not answer, please speak to our claims team on 0800 073 8801. One of our claim advisers will give you the answers you need.

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What Is A Clinical Negligence Claim?

To begin our Whiston Hospital negligence claims guide, let’s look at what clinical or medical negligence is. In order to answer the question ‘can I sue a hospital for malpractice?’, we need to define exactly what clinical negligence is. In the UK, every medical professional from ward orderlies and nurses, to surgeons and consultants, have a duty of care to never cause a patient unnecessary harm. To expand on this, we could say that neglect at Whiston hospital would be defined as:

  1. A medical professional caring for a patient had a clear duty of care towards the patient to not do them harm
  2. The medical professional failed in fulfilling their duty of care in a way that either directly or indirectly lead to the patient suffering some form of harm
  3. The medical professional could have taken alternative measures, that would not have harmed the patient

Every successful NHS negligence complaint would follow this pattern, with all three of the previous statements being true. However, there is a further consideration here. The onus is on the victim to prove that negligence actually took place. When a negligence complaint is made, the complaint is evaluated by a panel of doctors, who will decide whether negligence took place or not. If this panel says that negligence did not take place, then the victim must provide evidence to prove that it did.

How can a solicitor help?

This is where the services of a solicitor come in. A solicitor can help you to prepare your case, in the best way to prove liability. The solicitor will negotiate with the healthcare service that employs the medical professional who perpetrated the negligence and attempt to negotiate a level of liability. Either full or partial. In the case of partial liability, this will be expressed as a percentage and would form part of the algorithm for calculating any compensation that is secured. If the claim is successful, it will result in one of two positive outcomes, and these are:

  • Settlement – in this scenario, the defendant offers the claimant an out of court settlement. The claimant, with the help of their solicitor, will decide if the offer is reasonable. If not, there is still a chance to negotiate without the need for court proceedings
  • Judicial proceedings – in this scenario, if liability or a settlement figure is not agreed upon without the need to go to court, then it will be left for the judge to decide. For more information regarding this, please do not hesitate to contact us

As you can see, the process of making a clinical negligence claim can be somewhat complicated. However, we are here to help you through every step of the claims process, from the initial preparation to processing the claim to its resolution. All you need to do is call us.             

How Could Hospital Neglect Affect Patients?

If you were to become the victim of neglect at Whiston Hospital, there are many ways that you could come to harm, in a way that could leave you with a valid NHS negligence complaint. For example:

  • Shoddy treatment in an A&E department when receiving emergency medical care
  • An avoidable delay in being provided with crucial treatment
  • The infection you picked up while in the hospital such as C. difficile, Legionaries disease or MRSA
  • Misdiagnosis causing you to be treated for the wrong illness, whilst the actual illness worsens
  • Lax care by nurses or other care staff resulting in injuries, such as bed sores
  • Errors made during a surgical procedure, either by the surgeon or the anaesthetist

These are just a few examples of clinical negligence. No matter how you are harmed while being treated, if you can prove that a medical professional was to blame and that negligence took place, we could be able to help you to make Whiston Hospital negligence claims. Speak to our claims team to learn more about this.

£175,000 Settlement By Whiston Hospital For Surgical Negligence

Here, we are going to give a real-life example of a medical negligence claim, in the form of a case study. We are going to look at how a 20-year-old man was able to claim £175,000 in compensation due to an ankle operation that went wrong, leaving him with arthritis.

Medical mistakes

The patient underwent three separate surgical procedures, to try and fix his fractured ankle using surgical screws. However, these screws were removed too soon. Furthermore, this wasn’t the full extent of the mistakes that were made.

The first operation damaged the nerves in the patient’s calf. The surgical screws that were used to pin the bones in place while they healed were too long and put in the wrong place. In the final procedure, these screws were removed. Yet no X-Rays were taken before this operation, and this meant that the doctors did not realise that the fracture had not fully healed, and the screws were being removed too early. The long-term results of these mistakes were that at the age of 20, the victim would have to live with arthritis in that ankle for the rest of their life.

Aftermath

The claim was resolved through an out of court settlement. With the NHS admitting partial liability for the damage to the claimant’s ankle. The claimant received a compensation payment of £175,000 as a final settlement for their personal injury claim.

Why this case study?

This case study is relevant for many reasons. Primarily because it was clear that the medical professionals involved had made mistakes, and had failed to fulfil their duty of care. However, the claimant had to prove that they had been harmed as a result of several negligent acts, and this harm had a serious effect on their life.

It is also interesting that the NHS only admitted partial liability, yet still settled the claim out of court. It is possible that the claimant could have received a higher level of compensation had they rebuffed the out of court settlement offer and taken the claim to court.

This case study is a good example of the potential complexity of making a medical negligence claim. No matter how complex your claim, we can help you through the whole end-to-end process of making it. Speak to our claims team for further information and advice.

Annual Hospital Negligence Payouts Made By St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals

At this point in our Whiston Hospital negligence claims guide, let’s look at some facts and figures. In the table below, we show statistics related to clinical negligence concerning the St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, for the period 2017/18.

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Accounting year Value of compensation paid NHS Trust or hospital How many claims were made?
2017/18 £9,888,268 St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust 69

£7.2m Awarded In Damages Claims Against St Helens and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals Between 2017 & 2018

When we start to look at the actual statistics related to clinical negligence at Whiston Hospital in St Helens, one of the best sources of information is the annual report that was published by the NHS trust that covers the 2017/18 period.

Looking at this report, we find that the St Helen’s and Knowsley Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, have paid out a total of £7,265,000 in compensation for criminal negligence in the period 2017/18. There are two hospitals administered by the NHS Trust which are the Whiston Hospital and the St Helens Hospital. The report does not provide information that shows what the split was between these two hospitals when it comes to the total compensation paid out.

Whiston Hospital Neglect Compensation Calculator

You have now reached the Whiston Hospital negligence claims calculator section of our guide. Even if you have already used an online personal injury claims calculator to get a rough estimate of how much compensation you could be able to claim, you may still find the table below to be of use. The table is based on the actual Judicial College Guidelines used by the UK legal system to value claims.

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Medical Condition Severity Info Payment
Illness (non-traumatic) Minor General, nonspecific symptoms such as diarrhoea, nausea, stomach cramps, etc. that will clear up within a few days. £860 to £3,710
Illness (non-traumatic) Moderate Any illness such as a viral infection, food poisoning, etc. that manifests symptoms such as diarrhoea, stomach cramps, disrupted bowel function, with the major symptoms lasting a few weeks and complete recovery happens within two years. £3,710 to £8,950
Illness (non-traumatic) Serious A more serious but also a short-term illness that could display severe symptoms such as diarrhoea, vomiting, fever, disrupted bowel function. The patient may have an impaired sex life, loss of enjoyment of food and other nontangible symptoms. The illness may take a few years to recover from. £8,950 to £18,020
Illness (non-traumatic) Severe A very severe illness of toxicosis causing acute and often chronic diarrhoea, pain, fever, vomiting, etc. The illness will require hospitalisation to treat and have a long-lasting impact on the life of the patient. £36,060 to £49,270

If you would like to receive a more accurate estimate of the level of compensation that you could claim, please speak to our claims team today. They can arrange for a personal injury lawyer to value your claim for you.

How To Start A Claim For Neglect At The Whiston Hospital

If you are injured as an inpatient, an outpatient, or a person visiting the A&E department for emergency medical treatment, you may have a valid cause to make Whiston Hospital negligence claims if you can prove that negligence was to blame. In this case, there are a number of things that you can do a) when the incident takes place, and b) at a later stage, to prepare for your claim.

How to evidence your claim

  • Gather evidence of how you were injured. For example, you could take photographs or video. You should also keep any documentation related to the incident. For example, receipts for prescription charges, any test results, etc. You obviously won’t have access to your full medical file, but you may have snippets of documented evidence that could be of value
  • If you were injured in an accident at the hospital, then check to see if there were any witnesses to the event. If there were, ask them for their contact details. This is so they can be called upon to give testimony later in the claim if needed
  • Document all of the expenses that your encounter due to the injuries you have suffered. This would include out of pocket expenses such as travel costs and also ongoing losses such as lost income due to missing work

Once you have taken these steps, it is time to think about actually starting the claims process. You can contact our claims team, and one of our advisors will talk you through our new claims process. As part of this process, you will have to go for an impartial medical examination to evaluate your injuries/illness. This will enable a solicitor to value your claim accurately. The solicitor will process the claim for you, and attempt to get you the most compensation possible. We are always available on the phone to keep you updated on the status of your claim.

No Win No Fee Claims For Neglect By Whiston Hospital

You could use the services of a No Win No Fee solicitor to make a claim. You have probably seen the term No Win No Fee before, but do you know exactly what it means? Under this agreement, you pay nothing at all until the solicitor has received a compensation payment for you. This means you won’t have to fund your claim out of your own pocket, and the financial risks of making a claim are reduced.

When you first ask work with a solicitor, they won’t ask you to pay any upfront fee. In addition they will not ask you to pay any ongoing fees, no matter how long your claim takes. If the solicitor fails to get you any compensation at all, then you still pay no fees.

The only time you will be expected to pay your legal fees is once you have won your claim. At this point, the solicitor will take their success fee from your compensation and give you the money leftover. This fee will have been pre-agreed before the solicitor took your claim on.

If you have any questions, our advisors will be happy to answer them for you. You can speak to our claims team on the number below.

Contact Us To Start Your Hospital Negligence Claim

Have you been injured as a result of some kind of neglect at Whiston Hospital? Are you unsure of whether you have a valid claim or not? Or maybe you just have some general questions about making a clinical negligence claim?

No matter what kind of help you need, you can call our claims team on 0800 073 8801  or fill in our online enquiry form. One of our claim advisers will go over the claims process with you and tell you about your legal options. Once they know enough about your claim, they can explain how best to proceed.

Our Panel Of Doctors Covering The Merseyside Area

Part of the process of making clinical negligence claims is to have your claim valued by a solicitor. In order for this to happen, the solicitor will need you to go for an impartial medical examination. The results of which will show the extent of your injuries, and what the prognosis is for a full recovery. Some doctors in your area are:

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Doctor Location
Sohaib Yasin Liverpool Consulting Rooms
73-75 Rodney Street
Liverpool
L1 9EX
Suzanne Fletcher Physio Liverpool
480 Prescot Road
Old Swan
Liverpool
L13 3DB

If you want more advice about undergoing a medical examination, speak to a member of our claims team.

Essential Links

These external links have some useful additional information:

Thank you for reading our Whiston Hospital negligence claims guide today.