Millions of people in the UK require emergency medical treatment every year, so it is perhaps not surprising that mistakes are sometimes made by Accident & Emergency staff.

In the second financial quarter of 2011 (July – September), more than 5.2 million attendances at Accident & Emergency departments across the country had been reported. Whilst proportionally few patients received negligent treatment, those who did were well within their legal rights to claim compensation from the NHS.

Statistics

In terms of the number of claims received by the NHS Litigation Authority (NHSLA) under the Clinical Negligence Scheme for Trusts (CNST) as of March 2011, Accident & Emergency was the fourth most dangerous speciality in the NHS with 7,800 negligence claims, behind medicine (12,045), obstetrics & gynaecology (13,095) and surgery (25,867).

According to official Hospital Episode Statistics (HES), 3 per cent of patients who attended Accident & Emergency departments left before receiving treatment, whilst 6.8 per cent were readmitted within 7 days of initial attendance. The latter statistic is perhaps the most damning, not least because Accident & Emergency departments across the UK have come under fire in recent years for failing to provide adequate primary care in the first instance. Indeed, readmission often results in clinical negligence claims being brought against Primary Care Trusts (PCTs).

Types of Claim

Accident & Emergency departments administer primary care to patients who require urgent medical treatment. Common types of Accident & Emergency compensation claims involve patients who have received an inadequate or inappropriate standard of care.

Many Accident & Emergency patients who claim for compensation are sent home after an initial examination by doctors or nurses. It is not uncommon for x-rays and other such tests to be misinterpreted by healthcare professionals who work in high-pressure environments. Unfortunately, a patient who is misdiagnosed by doctors or sent home too soon might be at risk of suffering greater injury or illness and perhaps even death having failed to receive adequate treatment.

Accident & Emergency doctors sometimes fail to spot or sufficiently treat fractures, perforations, ruptures, blood clots and many other potentially serious conditions. Doctors and nurses are also at risk of failing to adequately treat flesh wounds, which can become infected over time. The worst infections might necessitate the amputation of limbs, whilst pneumonia and sepsis are also relatively common.

How to Claim

Claims for compensation following mistakes made by Accident & Emergency departments must be brought within three years of the injury accruing (or the affected person's awareness of the mistake or injury - whichever happens to be later).

As soon as it becomes apparent that a mistake has been made, the patient should contact the relevant hospital or PCT to ask about lodging a formal complaint. In serious cases, complaints can also be made to the Parliamentary and Health Service Ombudsman or the General Medical Council. To claim compensation, specially trained personal injury solicitors must be contacted at the earliest possible opportunity.