The Accident and Emergency Department (increasingly called the Emergency Department) is one of the busiest departments in a hospital. NHS England has reported that in the period 2020-21 there were 17.43 million A&E attendances across the country. Whilst the vast majority of A&E patients receive excellent care, mistakes occasionally happen which cause the patient to suffer avoidable harm. If you have been injured or suffered illness as a result of substandard care from A&E doctors, nurses or staff, you may be entitled to claim compensation.

The Accident and Emergency Department (increasingly called the Emergency Department) is one of the busiest departments in a hospital. NHS England has reported that in the period 2020-21 there were 17.43 million A&E attendances across the country. Whilst the vast majority of A&E patients receive excellent care, mistakes occasionally happen which cause the patient to suffer avoidable harm. If you have been injured or suffered illness as a result of substandard care from A&E doctors, nurses or staff, you may be entitled to claim compensation.

Our specialist medical negligence solicitors have experience in assisting clients who have been injured as a result of substandard care provided in A&E. The most common errors made in A&E arise from:

• Failure to take a detailed history from the patient
• Failure to examine the patient properly or at all
• Delayed diagnosis, misdiagnosis, or failure to diagnose
• Failure to diagnose fractures
• Failure to refer for appropriate diagnostic tests or scans
• Misinterpretation of test results, x-rays or scans
• Discharging patients without considering test results, x-rays or scans
• Inappropriate discharge
• Delayed treatment
• Failure to refer or delayed referral to a speciality within the hospital or to another hospital
• Failure by a junior doctor to refer a patient for senior review
• Administration of the wrong medication or incorrect dosage
• Missing obvious symptoms of life threatening conditions such as appendicitis, meningitis, sepsis, cauda equina syndrome, heart attack or stroke
• Failure to provide ‘safety net’ advice to a patient in case their condition deteriorates

If you wish to discuss a potential clinical negligence claim with our specialist solicitors you can email us, use our online enquiry form, or call us for free on 0800 008 7450.