General practitioners (GPs) treat all common medical conditions and have an obligation to refer patients to hospitals and other medical services for urgent and specialist treatment when necessary.
GPs provide thousands of appointments every single day, and most of them proceed without any problem. When problems do occur, however, the consequences can have a significant impact.
GPs are able to refer patients for further investigations to confirm a diagnosis or as part of an on-going management plan. These can include x-rays, blood tests or a referral for a second opinion.
GPs should spot ‘red flag’ symptoms, which might indicate a serious problem requiring further investigation and which needs to be acted on promptly.
You may have been injured as a result of a GP’s failure to recognise or act upon your symptoms, refer you for further investigations or treatment. In some cases, if a symptom is not picked up and treated quickly it can lead to catastrophic injury resulting in significant disabilities.
You may therefore bring a claim for clinical negligence against your GP for the delay or failure to refer you for further investigations such as blood tests and x-rays or specialist treatment such as a referral to a consultant.
Generally, a claim will be started against an individual GP. Usually, a GP will have some form of indemnity/insurance to provide cover against negligence claims. More recently, the NHSR has taken over the liability for some GP negligence claims.
A claim involving negligence in an A&E department can take anywhere between a few months and a few years to settle. This depends on the extent of injury and whether the negligence is admitted by the Defendant. A typical case usually takes between 2-3 years to finish. Bigger and more complicated claims tend to take longer. Don’t worry, we will be with you every step of the way.
Normally, yes. You should start a claim as soon as possible. Generally, you will need to start Court proceedings within three years of the negligence happening or within three years of the date you knew or ought to have known negligence had occurred. After those three years the GP could raise ‘limitation’ as a defence to any claim, and argue that you are out of time to bring a claim. There are some exceptions to this limit, although the best way of finding out whether you are in time to bring a claim is to speak to one of our specialist lawyers.
Here at Waldrons Solicitors, we have an experienced team of Lawyers who are dedicated to getting the best possible outcome for you. We aim to investigate any concerns and find out exactly what has happened, with the aid of leading medical experts. We will assist you in recovering the compensation you deserve.
As well as telephone consultations, we offer in-person meetings and home visits to make this experience as stress-free as possible.
Any solicitor can say they are experienced in what they do. We go the extra mile to demonstrate our expertise. Many of our lawyers have undertaken independent assessments of their knowledge and skills. Our accreditations give you the assurance that you are dealing with a specialist.
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