Health Legal Services

Health Legal Services

Although there is an NHS complaints procedure all it might do is get you the treatment you want. Our Health Legal Services department can then escalate to an ombudsman and even court for a judicial review. However, the complaints procedure cannot award compensation so if the damage is already done you need to go to law.

Medical negligence

There is nothing more important than your health but with 1,191,231 staff and budget deficits the NHS is going to make mistakes. In 2012 the NHS expects to pay out nearly a billion pounds to around 8,655 patients for botched treatment, with an average payout of some £100,000.

To win a case you need to prove you were injured because the clinician went against best practice. As 98% of claims (and 96% of court cases) do not actually get through the doors of the court it is mainly a paper exercise between us, you and your expert witness on one side and the NHS insurer, NHS Litigation Authority, on the other side, so there is rarely a need for confrontations or going in the witness box. Whereas before 2005 it used to take 6 years to get your cheque now it averages only 1.5 years.

Hospitals in south east Essex

The NHS in south east Essex is in meltdown. Of the nine “significant breach” trusts in the country, two are in Southend and Basildon. Apart from being filthy and badly managed – problems shared with many hospitals, the unique problem in south east Essex is that staff are being lured to London for the higher wages, leaving you in the hands of whoever is left.

In Basildon’s NHS Trust you are 15% more likely to die in hospital than expected on average. Basildon University Hospital receives over 40 complaints a month, in 2009 was slammed by the Care Quality Commission for killing 70 people with filthy wards and lazy nurses and was put in enforcement for MRSA and mortality, and in 2007 they had to sack an entire ward of nurses for negligence. On 15 December 2011 the coroner described Basildon’s maternity care as “shocking” and “very disturbing” after it covered up killing a baby.

In 2011 Southend Hospital had problems with slow cancer treatment and excessive “c difficile” outbreaks.

The management of Southend (Dec 2011) and Basildon (Nov 2009) hospitals have been put under supervision by the NHS Trust regulator, Monitor, in Basildon’s case using emergency provisions in National Health Service Act 2006 s52.