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30 October 2013

Negligence Claims

Amongst the latest celebrity gossip, football results and travel pages you will quite regularly find shocking stories of poor treatment received within hospitals. Stories about those that have been left disabled after doctors errors, severe illnesses going undiagnosed and even deaths due to staff blunders. 

Recent reports show that in London the NHS are spending £470,000 each day on negligence claims - a figure that 65% of people in the UK feel is money wasted. Not only is this amount on the increase due to solicitor bills rising but unfortunately the amount of people making claims is rising too. Is the standard of care lowering per say or are funding cuts and staff shortages effecting the health professionals ability to provide the services that they should?

Nearly 30% of people surveyed recently know of someone personally that has experienced poor treatment from NHS staff. It's therefore hardly surprising that 54% would opt for private health care if they could afford to. Looking at my personal experiences, I opted for a home birth with Jamster as I felt the treatment I received in the maternity ward when I gave birth to Minxy was not acceptable - due to staff incompetence. Thankfully she entered the world safely but with over half of the claims being made relating to obstetrics it is something that needs addressing.


Many of those surveyed felt the treatment received by those making claims was due to staff being overworked. 73% feel the government should not cut funding suggesting this is perhaps partly the cause for the lowered levels of care. Would putting more money into the NHS reduce the need for such large expenditures towards legal fees, court appearances and compensation for negligence? Or does something else need to be done?



How do you feel about the NHS?


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2 comments

  1. Really interesting reading. My recent experience in the Maternity Unit was not pleasurable in any way. This was mainly due to the shocking lack of staff. I felt abandoned but this was mainly due to management and budget rather than individual staff.

    Vicky x
    prettywittythings.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think that the NHS is an amazing institution that we're lucky to have.. but unfortunately it just needs to reshuffle its priorities back to patients and patient care.

    Laura - Hartlepool Lawyers

    ReplyDelete

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