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Medical Negligence Solicitors Exeter – No Win No Fee Claims Guide

By Daniel White. Welcome to our guide on medical negligence solicitors for Exeter. Wherever you live in the UK, the professional specialist negligence solicitors that Legal Expert can provide you with are able to help claimants to secure the damages that they are owed by medical practitioners, surgeries, hospitals, or other medical bodies, such as an NHS trust.

Our dedicated medical negligence team covering claims in Exeter can help you to bring a case, no matter the severity of your claim, or the body that you have to bring the claim against. Our specialist team can also help those who have suffered as a result of negligent care provided in a care home, nursing home, or other day or residential care facility. If you need to make a claim against a medical provider in the local area, the medical negligence solicitors for Exeter that we can provide you are capable of helping you to bring a claim here. Talk to the experienced team at Legal Expert today. Call us now on 0800 073 8804.

solicitor in exeter What is clinical negligence?

Before you contact a solicitor to start any kind of legal action, you may have questions about your type of care. If you have suffered negligent treatment at an NHS or private medical facility, you may be wondering if this could be legally considered negligent treatment. Negligence (in a legal sense) is a case where a person (or body) has breached the duty of care that they owe to someone. This breach in the duty of care will have, in some way, led to that person experiencing some form of pain and/or suffering. Clinical or medical negligence cases deal specifically with how care has been provided by a medical practitioner. This negligent treatment might include the failure of a person (or healthcare provider) to provide the patient with the correct type and level of care or to prevent this person from coming to harm. To make a successful compensation claim, you must have suffered some form of harm. This could be psychological or physical.

How to prove your compensation claim is valid

When making any personal injury claim, the burden of proof will lay with the claimant. As such, you should always try to work with a solicitor who has the most relevant experience and knowledge to get you the compensation you are entitled to.

Your solicitor will need to show that the healthcare provider responsible for the care, and whom the allegation is being brought against is responsible, in that they owed you a duty of care. Next, you need to show that the person (or person’s) had breached their duty of care, that you were injured in some way. It should be easy for the solicitor to show the nature and extent of the injuries you sustained. It also needs to be shown that this happened as a result of the breach.

In order to prove the conditions above, the solicitor we can provide you will need to show each of these elements. It is usually to show that there is a duty of care owed, that the practitioner or practice owes any patient the same duty of care. Next, your solicitor will need to demonstrate that the treatment you received happened in a negligent way.

This means that the care has fallen short of what the patient/ claimant should reasonably have expected. Finally, your solicitor needs to demonstrate that you have suffered. Any claim for damages that you make can also include financial costs that you have experienced. The claim could include costs such as any loss of earnings or income, the cost of subsequent/additional medical treatment and other expenses, such as adaptations to your home, or vehicle.

Compensation claim time limits

Whether for a personal injury, accident, or medical negligence, any compensation claim brought in the UK must be done so within a three-year period of the injury or illness being suffered. There are some conditions where a claimant can make a compensation claim for injuries or illness which occurred longer ago than this. If the results of the injury or illness either did not present or were not diagnosed till years later, this date will act as the start of the claims period. It will be known as the “date of knowledge”.

In reading our guide below, you can find out more about the process of making a claim and how our medical negligence solicitors for the Exeter area can help you.

How Do I Make A Medical Negligence Claim?

In this section, we’ve listed some of the more important steps you’ll need to take to make a claim. However, this isn’t a complete list. There are other things you’ll have to do to give yourself the best possible chance of success.

Some will be compulsory, and others will not. The three below are a mix of these two classifications. Even so, we find that these steps in particular go a long way to helping you successfully receive compensation.

Make A Complaint To The Facility Where You Were Treated

You can do this regardless of whether you received care on the NHS or through a private healthcare company. There will be a senior figure who you can inform of the negligence and ensuing injuries that you experienced. For a privately owned facility, this will likely be the owner or manager.

For NHS facilities, there will be no owner. But, there will still be a manager or similarly senior position to which you can lodge your complaint.

In either circumstance, you’ll need to tell them of your intent to make a claim for the injuries you’ve sustained. It’s possible that initially, they’ll offer you a settlement fee. You must be careful. This offer may be much lower than what you could eventually receive. So, check with medical negligence solicitors for Exeter before you accept any offers of compensation.

Gather Evidence

You’ll need to be able to back up your claim. You can prove that you are telling the truth by acquiring as much evidence as possible, Here are some examples:

  • Written witness statements – for example, a friend or family member could have been present when your injuries were sustained. Perhaps they were even present in the events that constituted medical negligence. They could write down what they saw and heard.
  • Photographs – it’s very helpful to have visual evidence of your injuries when they were at their worst.
  • Medical records – these will contain information such as treatment details and the medication you’ve been prescribed. 

For more examples of what you could use as evidence, get in touch with us today.

Seek Legal Advice

The process of making a claim can be difficult if you have no experience with the processes involved. This is why we heavily recommend enlisting the services of medical negligence solicitors for the Exeter area. Whilst it isn’t a legal requirement to hire a lawyer, chances of success become much greater with a legal professional by your side to assist you and answer your questions.

How To Choose The Best No Win, No Fee Clinical Negligence Lawyer In Exeter

Compensation claims for a personal injury, such as a case of medical negligence, will typically be able to be concluded in a period of several months. However, they can on occasion, take up to the three-year limit to conclude. With this and the fact that the solicitor will need to read your medical information in detail, you need to work with a solicitor who is experienced, discreet and trustworthy.

As such, you should use the best solicitor for Exeter that you can. You will also need to be able to trust their advice and guidance at each step of the way. You need to trust that they are providing you with the information you need, in a way that is clearly put, and easy to understand. Our Exeter clinical negligence claims team can help with this.

Will I Need To Use Medical Negligence Solicitors In Exeter?

Whilst today many people are used to accessing professional services in a variety of different ways, such as across the internet, or via digital communication tools, people often still think that they need to use a solicitor who is based in the same location as them and that a legal case will require a lot of face-to-face meetings.

Today the services of professional medical negligence solicitors for Exeter can often be provided from across the country in a variety of different ways. They can also be done so in a way which feels like the claimant and solicitor are just around the corner from each other. More important than where your solicitor is geographically based is that they have the ability to get you the compensation that you deserve and are entitled to. In fact, many compensation claims can be conducted without any face-to-face contact having to happen.

By working with our medical negligence team, we can provide you with an experienced solicitor who can cover claims in your area, whether it be Exeter or elsewhere. Your claim may need a medical exam to confirm the extent of your injuries, this can be organised within your local area and it is possible to organise home visits.

What Compensation Claims Do We Conduct In This Area?

There are a number of different claims that specialist medical negligence lawyers for Exeter could help you with. At Legal Expert, our solicitors have years of experience across a very broad range of medical negligence claims so whatever your individual circumstances, we can help.

We have outlined a few examples of such claims here.

  • Hospital negligence: Whether you experienced NHS negligence or negligence in a private hospital is immaterial. All medical professionals have a duty of care to provide the correct standard of care to their patients. So, if you were harmed by a surgical error or given the wrong medication, Legal Expert is here to help.
  • Dental Negligence: Dentists are trained healthcare professionals who also have a duty to provide the correct standard of treatment. Avoidable harm you could claim for could include the wrong tooth being removed or nerve damage following surgery.
  • Cancer misdiagnosis: A cancer misdiagnosis can have substantial and potentially life threatening impacts. For example, if your scans are misinterpreted or carried out incorrectly, the cancer could have spread considerably before you receive the correct diagnosis.
  • Nursing home negligence: if you or a relative has suffered avoidable due to nursing or care home negligence, then our solicitors can help you claim compensation.

To find out about claiming medical negligence compensation and to get a free eligibility assessment, talk to our team today using the contact information given below.

Expert No Win No Fee Medical Negligence Solicitors For Exeter

Our medical negligence solicitors for Exeter can offer eligible claimants a strictly No Win No Fee contract called a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). The CFA brings a number of advantages over other types of contract, including:

  • No fees for the solicitor to begin work on the claim.
  • There will also be no solicitors fees during the actual claims process.
  • And, should the claim fail, you will not incur any solicitors fees. 

Should the claim succeed, you will recover medical negligence compensation. Some of this will go to the solicitor’s success fee. However, the maximum solicitors can charge for a success fee is capped by The Conditional Fee Agreements Order 2013. What this means is you will keep the majority of any payout you receive. 

Speak To Our Team Today

To start to process of making a medical negligence claim, you can:

Useful Links

Hospital Negligence Claims
Our guide to making a compensation against a hospital includes further information on what negligence in a hospital might include as well as information on how to make these claims.

Further Medical Negligence Guides

Healthcare providers

Royal Devon & Exeter Hospital
Barrack Road,
Exeter,
EX2 5DW
Tel: 01392 411611
Web: www.rdehospital.nhs.uk

Nuffield Health Exeter Hospital
Wonford Road,
Exeter,
EX2 4UG
Tel: 01392 276591
Web: www.nuffieldhealth.com/hospitals/exeter

Thank you for reading our guide on medical negligence solicitors for Exeter.

Meet The Team

  • Patrick Mallon legal expert author

    Patrick is a Grade A solicitor having qualified in 2005. He's an an expert in accident at work and public liability claims and is currently our head of the EL/PL department. Get in touch today for free to see how we can help you.

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