Can you claim even if there was no break

[cherrycola66]

Around 6 years ago I had an accident at work, I was supporting a service user back inside and the floor outside the door was slippy tiles and it was raining, I fell underneath the wheelchair on my back. I went to the hospital and at first they wanted me to have another scan (mri or ct, I can’t remember exactly), however a consultant came along and said no need as it’s just an injury they can see it’s not broke. I had some issues on and off for around a year with pain and then I've been fine, however in pregnancy it makes it so painful, this time I’m only 3 months and can barley walk because of it. My question is would I have a claim as there was no break involved?

Yes

Was the accident logged?

You could have done, but you have a 3 year limit after the date of accident to start proceedings, which you are far outside of. Without a very, very good reason, a judge would not allow you to pursue the claim now.

And even though it was so many years ago as the advice I’ve seen online says claims must be made within 3 years. Yea an accident report was filled in

Even though it hasn’t affected me until pregnancy?

Assuming you’re in the UK, there’s a 3 year time limit on personal injury compensation claims.

you would have to be able to prove the issues you are having now are due to the accident - can you do that?

Yep, if you've had an accident as part of your work & it's still causing issues then you can put a claim in.

But - there's a time limitation, usually 3 years.
If youve only just discovered you've been injured long term you may be successful.

You need legal advice.

But it did affect you sooner. You said you had issues with pain on and off for a year afterwards.

You could always have a chat with a no win no fee solicitor, see if they think there's a way around it.

I suppose if I had to have another scan something would still show up that can be linked to the previous one? If hospitals retain X-rays for that long I suppose

You would need to prove the current condition was directly related to the accident and that it was caused by negligence or a failure to follow procedure. However you may well be out of time. How long ago was your first pg?

If it’s only affected you during pregnancy how do you know it isn't the pregnancy that’s causing the pain rather than the injury?

As long as it has effected you at all, in a three year window, I think you should claim.

The only issue might be proving the direct correlation between your pain now and that specific injury. If it is scanned and appears healed now. It's a shame you hadn't a scan at the time really.

But it happened, the way you fell was in the course of work on work premises.

They could try and allege you misused the equipment? But presumably you didn't.

Was there CCTV of the accident?

How long did you take off work afterwards?

You can submit a dsar for your notes and scans but that normally takes a month to process and ideally you need someone to go through it. Letters from the hospital may well be on nhs app. You could request a referral back via gp but they may be reluctant to undertake non essential xray/ct scans during pregnancy.

It's 3 years or 3 years from date of knowledge. It could still be possible for you to claim. But you need to see a specialist solicitor.

Hmm there’s a lot of mixed reviews on if I would be eligible due to the amount of time. I don’t know if it would be worth it to consult with a solicitor and go through with it if there’s a chance nothing will happen

Would the claim even be successful? Playing devils advocate, they could argue you should have worn more sensible shoes if it was raining.