Medical Negligence Claims Solicitors

Proving whether you have a medical negligence claim depends on proving three key elements:

1. Duty of care: Did a healthcare professional breach their duty of care towards you?
2. Pain, injury, loss or damage: Did you suffer pain, injury, loss or damage during your treatment?
3. Causation: Was your suffering directly caused by the breach of duty of care?

Duty of care

One of your healthcare providers will need to have performed a negligent act or inaction that breached their duty of care. The standard this is measured against will depend on the area of medicine involved, at what point you received treatment, and other extenuating factors.

For example, say that during a caesarean section, the surgeon inadvertently cuts the patient’s bladder. If the bladder was in an abnormal position, this incident might not be viewed as negligible. However, if it was in a predictable position, the cut could be seen as negligent. 

Your healthcare provider must have done something that no reasonable professional in their position would have done – this is known as The Bolam Test.

Pain, injury, loss or damage

You must have suffered a significant injury or damage, be it physical, psychological or financial. 

For a successful medical negligence claim, the consequences cannot be strictly financial – there has to be some form of physical or psychological harm.

Causation

The harm to a claimant must be directly related to the negligence of their healthcare provider, known as causation.

This is based on the Balance of Probabilities – a test that figures out if the harm caused was greater than what they would have experienced had their treatment gone as expected.

A Judge will not consider outcomes from your treatment that could be expected, such as if the risks were laid out to you before treatment, or any pain or suffering that was deemed inevitable.

For example, a patient is sent home by a doctor after complaining of stomach pains. They pass away a couple of hours later due to arsenic poisoning. Although the doctor was unquestionably negligent, no treatment would have prevented the patient’s death, so this means there can be no medical negligence claim.

Once we have taken on your claim and arranged funding, your medical negligence claim will be allocated to one of our specialist lawyers. This gives you one point of contact for the full duration of your case, and helps build a strong working relationship with your representative.

Your lawyer will meet with you to start preparing a detailed history of your medical treatment and the issues that you have suffered. We will then gather all available evidence to support your case, including your medical records and witness statements. 

Once this is gathered, we will consult with impartial, relevant medical experts, who will advise us on the legitimacy of your claim and the compensation you may be entitled to. If they feel there is sufficient evidence to support your claim, we will present your case to the Defendants.

If you’d like to know more about how we can pursue your claim from start to finish, visit our claims process page.

Every medical negligence claim is unique, so there is no average or fixed time for a claim to reach final settlement.

In most cases, we would expect your claim to resolve in two to five years, depending on whether a claim proceeds to trial or is settled out of court.

Complex claims, such as birth injury claims affecting a child’s long-term development, including oxygen starvation claims, may take considerably longer to settle. This is to accurately determine how the child’s injuries will impact them as they get older.

In longer negligence claims, you may apply for interim payments as soon as liability is proven. Interim payments allow you to access care, treatment and other support sooner by using some compensation from your final settlement.

We know you would like to know how long your claim will take as soon as possible. After getting an initial understanding of your case, we can often provide a realistic estimate. As highly experienced specialists in medical negligence claims, we can often help you achieve a faster outcome than a generalist firm:

• We have a well-established network of medical experts for faster access and advice
• We know what to examine and look for based on previous case experience
• We have a more thorough and practised understanding of the claims process

Not necessarily – in fact, 96% of our medical negligence cases are resolved without a claimant needing to set foot in a courtroom. 

However, some cases do end up in court and require a ruling from a Judge to settle. If this happens, we ensure you are fully prepared and know what to expect. We will guide you through the entire claims process to minimise the stress of going to court.

Yes. In most circumstances, a medical negligence claim must be made within three years of your injury being realised. 

This often starts from the date of your injury. However, in situations where your injury may not be immediately apparent, such as a misdiagnosis, the three-year limit starts at the time you should have been aware of your injury (called the Date of Knowledge).

There are exceptions to the three-year time limit:

• Claimants under the age of 18 have until their 21st birthday to claim
• There is no time limit for anyone who is mentally incapacitated
• If the claimant dies within the three years, the three years start again from the date of their death

In special circumstances, the courts sometimes allow medical negligence claims outside this time. If your incident happened longer than three years ago, we can advise you if your claim is likely to be considered.

However, in all circumstances, our advice is to contact us as soon as you possibly can, even if you have years available. This ensures that all evidence is as fresh in the memory as it can be, and you receive your compensation sooner.

At Gadsby Wicks, we handle most cases on a ‘no win, no fee’ basis, also known as a Conditional Fee Agreement. This means that we take responsibility for your legal costs across your entire claim, without any exception. 

You don’t pay us a penny at any stage of the claims process. There are no hidden fees and we won’t ask you to pay for any medical reports, investigations or legal expenses like some other medical negligence claims solicitors do.

We only get paid if your claim succeeds, and this is paid from the compensation you obtain. We will openly discuss what you can expect to pay us, and you will always keep at least 75% of your compensation. This approach ensures you are never out of pocket no matter how long your case takes to resolve.

Learn how we can fund your claim to ensure you are never in any financial risk.

Legal Aid is sometimes available for claims relating to brain injuries suffered by a child at or around the time of birth. Neither you nor the child will be held responsible for any fees or expenses and will not have to pay anything, even if the case is lost. 

Winning the case will see the child receive 100% of the compensation from the Defendant. When we discuss your claim, we can advise on whether you or your loved one is eligible for Legal Aid.

The amount of compensation you can receive for your medical negligence claim will depend on numerous factors, including the severity of your injury and the financial losses you have experienced or will experience in the future.

Your compensation will be divided into two broad categories:

• General damages for any pain, suffering and loss of amenities
• Special damages for out-of-pocket expenses caused by your injuries both in the past and moving forward

Compensation is designed to put you back in the position you would have been had your negligence never taken place (insofar as this is possible). This means that your settlement can cover numerous costs affecting your health, safety and welfare, including:

• Loss of earnings
• Long-term care
• Ongoing treatments, medication and procedures
• Adaptations to homes and vehicles
• Travel and holiday expenses
• Required equipment and aids

In cases where the claimant has died, there will be two compensation claims; one for the estate of the claimant and one for their dependants. There is also a Statutory Bereavement Award paid to a spouse or the parents of unmarried children under 18 years of age.

Because we are specialist medical negligence claim solicitors who only work in this area of law and only for claimants, we can often present a stronger case than other solicitors who may have less experience. 

Our substantial experience in the adversarial process and negotiating settlements helps us achieve strong results. We are also prepared to go to Trial if we feel it is necessary and prepare all claims we accept with this outcome in mind.

If you receive any welfare benefits for your injuries, you may have to repay some or all of them if your medical negligence claim succeeds.

You will not have to pay back any money from the compensation for your pain, suffering, disability and injury. However, you may have to repay benefits that you receive for loss of mobility, loss of earnings or costs of care.

The Compensation Recovery Unit of the Department for Work and Pensions administers the scheme to recover welfare benefits. We will advise you fully as to how the scheme will affect your particular claim.

Individual doctors, including GPs, must have insurance or indemnity against claims for medical negligence. A successful claim against them means that their insurance company pays compensation to you.

Claims arising out of treatment or advice from any NHS employee are covered by NHS Resolution – formerly known as the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA).

In the private sector, hospitals, GP surgeries and clinics arrange their medical indemnity insurance.

A settlement is an agreement reached between you and the Defendant which brings the claim to an end rather than it having to be decided by a Judge. It is negotiated between the parties’ solicitors. A settlement results in you receiving your compensation more quickly, removes the uncertainty of a trial and reduces costs.

Under normal circumstances, the parties are entitled to agree to a settlement on whatever terms they choose. However, there are five circumstances where the approval of a Judge must also be obtained:

1. If the claimant is under 18 years old at the date of the settlement.
2. If the claimant is unable to manage his or her affairs because of a severe learning disability.
3. If all or part of the compensation is to be paid in the form of periodical payments rather than as a lump sum. This might be the case where the claim includes a substantial sum for anticipated future losses e.g. the cost of nursing care which might continue for the rest of the claimant’s life. Because of the difficulty in predicting life expectancy, a periodic payment award might be sensible.
4. If the claim relates to someone who has died and the award includes compensation for the loss of financial support and one or more of the deceased’s dependants are under 18 years of age, or the dependants cannot agree on how to apportion the award.
5. If there is a recognised risk that, at some time in the future, the claimant might develop some significant deterioration in his or her physical or mental condition, the court may give him or her the right to return to court to obtain further compensation.

The latest Annual Report & Accounts from NHS Resolution suggests that there were 11,512 clinical negligence claims received in 2024/2025 (excluding General Practice Indemnity claims).

In comparison, there were approximately 5,426 clinical negligence claims received by NHS Resolution in 2006/2007, and the general number of claims has largely grown year-on-year beyond this date (with some exceptions). This suggests that incidents of clinical negligence and claims have risen significantly over the past 20 years nationwide.

Comparatively, in Essex specifically, there were 424 claims received by the following NHS Trusts in 2024/2025 (according to NHS Resolution):

• Essex Partnership University NHS Foundation Trust
• Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust
• East Suffolk and North East Essex NHS Foundation Trust
• The Princess Alexandra Hospital NHS Trust

This is a 6% increase on 2023/2024 (401 claims) and a 23% increase on 2022/2023 (345 claims), indicating the same pattern of medical negligence claims becoming more common in Essex and surrounding areas.

It also correlates with our personal data at Gadsby Wicks, where our number of claims requests and accepted cases has grown year-on-year in recent years:

• 2021: 576 claims requests, 97 accepted cases
• 2022: 727 claims requests, 100 accepted cases (26% increase)
• 2023: 843 claims requests, 124 accepted cases (16% increase)
• 2024: 979 claims requests, 146 accepted cases (16% increase)

Of course, these numbers are small compared to the huge number of patients treated by NHS Trusts and private healthcare providers every year. However, both national and Essex-based data suggest that medical negligence claims are becoming more frequent each year.

For more information, please check out our up-to-date medical negligence claims statistics.

We understand how distressing medical negligence can be, not only for those directly affected, but also for their families and loved ones. If you or someone close to you is finding it difficult to cope, these local and national organisations across Essex can provide guidance, care and emotional support:

Healthwatch: An independent voice for patients in Essex, helping people raise concerns, understand care options and find local support if they’ve experienced poor treatment.

AvMA (Action against Medical Accidents): The UK charity for patient safety and justice, offering free, independent advice to people affected by medication errors and those considering a negligence claim.

The Patients Association: A national healthcare charity with a free helpline for patients with concerns about NHS care.

POhWER: Free, independent advocacy to help patients who feel that they have not been listened to make a complaint about NHS treatment nationwide.