Delayed Treatment Claims Solicitors

Like all medical negligence claims, you typically have a three-year time limit from when your injury is realised to make a delayed treatment claim.

There are exceptions to this rule:

• Claimants under the age of 18 have until their 21st birthday to make a claim
• There is no time limit for those who are mentally incapacitated

Because it may be several months or years before someone recognises they suffered injury due to delayed treatment, the date of knowledge ensures the three-year time limit begins when a claimant should have reasonably suspected something was wrong, rather than when the negligence happened.

Furthermore, every medical negligence claim is at the discretion of the Court, meaning it is possible for a claim to proceed even if the time limit has expired. Get in touch with our medical negligence experts for a free initial consultation, and we will advise you on whether or not you have a viable claim.

The compensation a claimant receives from a successful delayed treatment claim largely depends on how the delay impacted their prognosis and treatment options, and the long-term consequences of this.

The implications of delayed treatment can be vast, from simply the loss of earnings from a few additional days in hospital, to dramatically altering someone’s lifestyle, capabilities and life expectancy.

For example, consider a doctor failing to diagnose a patient with Stage 1 breast cancer. Several years later, the patient visits another doctor who discovers the cancer, but it has now progressed to Stage 4. This may mean:

• The patient requires more extensive surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy
• The patient’s one-year survival rate may have dropped from 100% to 63%

The purpose of compensation is to help someone get back to the position they were in before the negligence or, if this is not possible, support changes to their life moving forward.

The possibilities of how compensation can help someone following delayed treatment are vast, and may include:

• The cost of necessary treatments
• Loss of earnings incurred while undergoing and recovering from treatment
• Claims for future losses due to being unable to work, or needing to change their employment
• Any necessary equipment or aids
• Therapies or support for any psychological harm caused by the experience
• Paying others for services that the claimant cannot perform themselves anymore (e.g. gardening, household chores, etc.)
• Any adaptations required to the home or vehicles

For examples of how we have helped our clients secure the compensation they need to move on from delayed treatment, please explore our case studies:

• Delayed Treatment of Spinal Stenosis – Mr S
• Delayed Thymus Transplant – Baby B
• Delayed Treatment of Ophthalmic Injury – Mr G
• Delayed Treatment of Wrist Fracture – Mr P

One of the common reasons why someone would experience delayed treatment is because their medical condition has been misdiagnosed. This then leads to a delay in referral to specialists, which impacts subsequent treatment options.

Sometimes, this will mean a patient has to undergo prolonged or more invasive treatment than they would have if their diagnosis had been made earlier. They may become disabled or disfigured as a result of this treatment, which could have also been avoided.

In the worst cases, patients may succumb to a disease that could have been cured if it had been diagnosed earlier. In the case of Mr T, he was prescribed a five-day course of amoxicillin by his GP after complaining of breathlessness and a cough.

When his condition did not improve, Mr T was admitted to A&E, where it was discovered he had severe coronary heart disease. Although he was listed for a coronary artery bypass graft, he became unwell a week later and passed away following a cardiac arrest.

The main cause for delayed treatment is a delay in diagnosis or a misdiagnosis, whether this is due to overlooking symptoms during a physical examination, or misinterpreting scans and test results. 

The longer it takes to identify what is wrong with a patient, the more time that could have been used to treat the problem is lost.

Beyond this, other causes of delayed treatment may include:

• A doctor providing false reassurance
• A doctor failing to arrange tests or refer their patient
• Test results or scans being erroneously filed
• Requests for treatment being left on desks
• Hospitals failing to contact patients about results
• A patient being placed lower on waiting lists than they should be

A delay in treatment may also happen in emergencies, such as in A&E or during surgery, should the seriousness of a patient’s condition go unnoticed for an unreasonable length of time.

In most circumstances, long hospital or GP waiting times are typically not pursued for compensation claims, since NHS and private healthcare providers are not automatically liable for systemic delays.

However, if a GP wrongly gives a patient a Routine referral to see a specialist for their problem, when they require an Urgent referral, this could lead to a delayed treatment claim.

According to the latest available data from NHS Resolution, between 2022 and 2024 there were close to 6,400 claims settled categorised under delayed diagnosis or treatment – approximately a third of all claims during that period.

Our own data on medical negligence claims in Essex and East Anglia is similar. Over the last five years, delayed treatment and delayed diagnosis claims account for over 33% of our total accepted cases – making it the most common type of claim locally.

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

We understand that the impact of delayed medical treatment can be deeply distressing – not only for the person affected, but for their family and loved ones. If you or someone close to you is struggling to cope with the consequences of delayed care, look into the following local and national support organisations in Essex:

Healthwatch: A local advocacy and patient voice organisation in Essex, helping raise concerns, complaints or support for cases of delayed diagnosis.

AvMA (Action against Medical Accidents): A UK charity providing advice, support and advocacy for those affected by medical negligence, including delayed treatments.

The Patients Association: A national helpline for patients with concerns about NHS care, which can include delayed diagnosis, poor treatment and help with next steps.