AIBU to consider legal action after admitted hospital negligence?

That is the point

Some years ago a close relative was left with a serious and long term issue due to admitted negligence. We didn't sue at the time but in hindsight I always wish we had. The hospital care was shocking and dangerous, and like you are saying, it's the thought of it happening again to someone else that is such a concern. Even now years later I often wonder about the ward my relative was on. I fully believe if I hadn't been around to fight her corner my relative would have died. It's not an easy decision but I wouldn't rule out suing. Perhaps think clearly about what would be gained from doing it to help you decide.

If you go through with the compensation, they will offer a settlement prior, but in turn they won’t investigate fully. The payout amount is very minimal (we were offered 10k) the solicitor will be a % basis too (I think it was 25%) so it wasn’t worth it for the financial side.
My family member did pursue for a thorough investigation but honestly, it didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already know.

Very few people pay in more than they cost, so to the majority it very much is free.

It's just not how it works. Lack of funding causes a lot of problems, we all know this. Removing more money isn't everyone going to improve those problems. Senior leadership can't stop staff burnout and recruitment of under qualified staff by reducing budgets further.

Do it. Something has to change. My godmother died due to NHS mismanagement of her case and my husband has now been left to wait for 8 months for a referral. When we finally paid to see a specialist they have said they’re worried it’s a brain tumour (pituitary). The system needs to be changed because it is harming people.

I am though. The most appalling care I have ever seen, and the worst examples of negligence, has been in the private sector. NHS is considerably safer than private care.

It's nothing to do with underfunding.

Accidental double posts so deleted.

@BunkBedsArePeopleShelves hear your point, but the NHS isn’t a charity and it isn’t a free service. We all pay for it. And like we’d claim if a private company caused us loss due to negligence, the NHS is the same.

Also, sadly, money talks. if senior leadership in NHS realise they are paying out claims due to XYZ, they will want to stop losing money that way & hopefully improve

1 in 500 clinical negligence claims lead to trials just FYI

Obviously I'm.not. Noone here is. They're not the only people with in depth knowledge of the issue 🤨

Tell me you're not a medical negligence, lawyer, without telling me you're not a medical negligence, lawyer.

Most medical negligence in the NHS is directly attributable to failing systems and lack of funding. Exhausted, over worked, underpaid, under resourced and/or under supported staff make errors than can harm and kill.

Taking even more money out of the system by suing is not going to help anything.

They aren't bankrupt and I guess if the NHS killed a family member of yours through negligence you'd just shrug, and say never mind.

People tend to have that opinion until it happens to them.

No one can make that decision for you and I am actually a solicitor in that field.

Its pointless asking on here - put the feelers out with some solicitor's firms who specialise in that area and see what they say.

But what you can't do is expect meaningful advice from the limited amount of detail given and expect people to be able to give an opinion when they aren't necessarily lawyers.

To know if you could bring a claim.I'd need to know the relationship to you, whether they had dependants and whether or not you'd have any standing to bring a claim - are you the next of kin.

You are not prepared to say anymore, so you're not going to get any meaningful advice.

If you aren't capable of bringing the claim and it has to be another family member and they don't want to, then it's out of your hands.

No - NHS is bankrupt - sounds like the rest of your family don’t want to make it worse.

I'd wait for the coroners report after the inquest unless you have access to the medical records, sorry for your loss.

My adored grandmother died as a result of hospital negligence and I took legal action on principle to try and ensure it wouldn't happen again. The NHS Trust decided to settle out of court. Although I'm not well off I split the money awarded between charities that my nan supported or approved of.

The NHS absolutely will admit to negligence, it comes under duty of candour.

Legal action will get you money but not necessarily change. If a case goes legal then it’s handed over to the trust legal team and they deal with it all. They will manage all contact with the family. In most cases they will settle out of court as it works out cheaper and quicker.

If you are looking for change then I would advise continuing to work directly with the trust. You should already be in contact with someone from the patient safety/incident investigation team and you can ask them what changes they are planning to make and over what timescale. You should be able to have a copy of any investigation reports and you can ask for follow up confirmation of what changes have been made.

You probably won’t even have to sue.

they’ve admitted it and encouraged you to get a lawyer.

this will be to negotiate terms of a payout.

If you’re not the most direct next of kin and the persons dead you probably wouldn’t get that much money anyway. This isn’t the USA, massive awards here are only made where the person has expensive long term health costs and other losses/not being able to work etc.

I'm late to this thread, @BillyNotQuiteNoMates , but when a close relative died and it was established at an inquest that the NHS trust was at fault, my DH wanted to take legal action (for the same reasons as you) and I didn't. We managed it very well (unusually for us!). He took action in his own name and I stayed out of it completely.

There was zero negative consequence for me, and I felt it completely right that he should feel free to pursue his grief in the way that made sense for him, while I pursued mine in a different way.

I think the process was pretty straightforward for him, too. The solicitor did more or less everything.

Because it was DH's action and not mine, I left it completely up to him what to do with the settlement (though in fact he did want to run it past me, which was fine). He gave a large chunk of it to a wonderful charity that had tried to help our relative. The rest, I think there is another donation he is still planning to make.

It might be worth asking your relatives to consider what their objections are. It may be that by talking through it they can come to see that it is legitimate for each person to handle the bereavement in accordance with their own emotional needs.

I agree. I used to work in a med neg department. We had 2 people who worked full time screening claims!