Bedford Walk-In Centre Medical Negligence – No Win No Fee Claims
Welcome to our guide looking at how a Bedford Walk-In Centre medical negligence incident could possibly occur. When you visit a walk-in centre, it’s usually because you’re injured or ill in a way that requires medical attention, but that doesn’t necessitate a trip to A&E.
People who visit walk-in centres have a right to receive care at an acceptable level. But what can you do if the care you receive falls below the right standard, and you’re harmed, or your condition gets worse? We will address this question throughout this guide.
Claim For Cases Of Negligence At Bedford Walk-In Centres
Bedford walk-in centre medical negligence claims guide
Could you have been avoidably harmed if a member of staff at a walk-in centre breached their duty of care in a way that should not have occurred? That is what this guide will focus on.
If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact our claims team. Or on the other hand, you may wish to start your claim straight away. Our team of advisors are on hand to answer your queries and help you start the claims process.
They are available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. All you have to do is call 0800 073 8804 and explain your situation. Otherwise, read on to find out more.
Select A Section:
- A Guide To Claims For A Bedford Walk-In Centre Medical Negligence Incident
- What Could Be A Claim For A Bedford Walk-In Centre Clinical Negligence Incident?
- Where To Find A Bedford Walk-In Medical Centre
- Services Provided By Walk-In And Urgent Care Centres
- Mistakes Treating Minor Forms Of Injury
- Medical Errors In Treating Minor Forms Of Illness
- Negligence In Treating Reproductive Health
- Malpractice In Providing Medications
- Calculate Compensation For A Bedford Walk-In Centre Medical Negligence Incident
- No Win No Fee Claims For Walk-In Centre Clinical Negligence In Bedford
- Discuss Your Case With Our Team
- Related Information – Bedford Walk-In Centres Medical Negligence
A Guide To Claims For A Bedford Walk-In Centre Medical Negligence Incident
Our guide will examine the process of making a medical negligence claim if a medical practitioner has not provided treatment within their professional standards and this has lead to harm that should not have occurred. We will begin by outlining the standards that healthcare providers should provide to their patients. All healthcare professionals owed a duty of care to each patient that they treat. This means that no patient should be caused unnecessary harm.
We will also examine some of the different services that are offered by walk-in centres. In addition, we look at how you may be harmed if the standards of care in medical environments are allowed to fall.
The guide will look at how a compensation award for walk-in centre negligence may be calculated. There are two types of damages that could be awarded in a successful medical negligence claim and we shall study them further down in the guide.
Finally, we will discuss what a No Win No Fee agreement is. We’ll examine how claiming with a No Win No Fee lawyer can make the process seem more straightforward and how legal representation can be funded this way.
If you have any further questions or would like to start your claim today, you can get in touch with our team. Otherwise, read on to find out more.
What Could Be A Claim For A Bedford Walk-In Centre Clinical Negligence Incident?
A walk-in centre is for those who are suffering from minor illnesses or injuries but who don’t need to visit a hospital or A&E. It may also be useful to you if you’re unable to get an appointment with your GP, as you don’t need an appointment to be seen.
Walk-in centres may be able to provide advice and treatment for:
- Minor burns
- Stings and bites from insects
- Minor cuts and lacerations
- A sprain to the ankle or wrist.
Those who work in walk-in centres have a duty of care towards those that they treat. When this duty is breached, it could end up causing you some form of unnecessary harm. The General Medical Council outline the duties of a doctor and what is expected of them when administering treatment; they are the regulator for UK doctors.
It’s important to note that sometimes a patient will be caused harm as part of the overall treatment plan aimed at curing them. Radiotherapy is a good example of this. Radiotherapy is harmful to the patient across the short term and may cause them increased pain and suffering, but it will hopefully cure them in the long term. Therefore, a doctor administering radiotherapy to a patient may not be breaching their duty of care even if the treatment makes the patient more ill.
How does the court decide a medical practitioner is liable?
We have already mentioned that not all instances of harm caused by medical treatment will be examples of medical negligence. So how can the court determine whether the treatment constituted a breach of duty of care?
Usually, the court will administer the Bolam test. A board of the medical professional’s peers are asked whether or not an acceptable level of care was administered. If they say it was not, then the healthcare provider could be considered negligent.
Where To Find A Bedford Walk-In Medical Centre
The NHS provides a very simple to use website that will help you to look up your closest walk-in centre to your postcode. Also, we have provided the address of two of the facilities in Bedford below.
Putnoe Medical Practice and Walk-in Centre
93 Queens Drive
Bedford
MK41 9JE
Medicspot Bedford Walk-in Centre
Goldhart’s Pharmacy
41-43 St Peter’s Street
Bedford
MK40 2PN
Services Provided By Walk-In And Urgent Care Centres
As mentioned before, a walk-in centre will only treat minor medical problems. If you visit a walk-in centre with a more serious health issue, you should be referred to the correct healthcare unit for proper treatment.
Staff at a walk-in centre may be able to:
- Prescribe antibiotics for an ear infection
- Diagnose and give advice on a sprained knee
- Give certain emergency contraceptives
- Clean and dress a laceration
However, you should always call before visiting a walk-in centre with an injury or illness. This is so that you can be directed to somewhere like A&E if your injury warrants it.
Furthermore, some walk-in centres don’t offer all the services we have mentioned, so it’s a good idea to check that you can be treated before you arrive.
Mistakes Treating Minor Forms Of Injury
If you sprain your wrist, cut your thumb, or suffer any other type of minor wound, you can visit a walk-in centre to have it treated by a doctor or nurse. When you seek medical care at a walk-in centre, you have a right to treatment of an acceptable standard.
Some examples of mistakes or errors that could occur in a walk-in centre include:
- A fractured wrist going undiagnosed when the wrist was clearly presented at the wrong angle.
- A nurse injures you while treating you. For example, they slip with the scissors while trimming a bandage, resulting in a cut on your arm.
- Your fractured fingers become deformed because they are splinted incorrectly.
If negligent treatment has caused you to become ill or injured or has made your existing condition worse, then you may be able to claim compensation. Speak to one of our advisors today, and you could receive a no-obligation valuation of your claim.
Medical Errors In Treating Minor Forms Of Illness
As well as injuries, walk-in centres can treat some minor illnesses. In some cases, they may offer you advice on how to treat it yourself at home, or they may be able to prescribe you medication.
Some examples of errors that could occur when an infection is treated at a walk-in centre include:
- You are diagnosed as having a virus when you have a chest infection because the doctor failed to examine you correctly. Your condition got worse because no treatment was given.
- A misdiagnosis occurs, and you are treated for a different illness than the one you are suffering from. For example, a case of bronchitis is treated like a common cold.
- Test results are misread, and because of this, you are sent home without treatment as you are told you are fine.
Suffering an incident of medical negligence will not automatically qualify a patient for compensation. The onus is on the patient to prove that a medical professional acted outside of that acceptable standard. Also that the negligent treatment provided caused pain and suffering that would not have otherwise occurred. Or at least not at the same rate.
Negligence In Treating Reproductive Health
Some walk-in centres provide sexual health services, such as advice about contraception, STIs and pregnancy. Not all centres will offer these, however, which is why you should always check before visiting.
Errors that have the potential to cause avoidable harm:
- Clear signs of ectopic pregnancy were ignored causing infertility.
- You have an STI which isn’t spotted because you undergo an STI test that is carried out incorrectly. This STI develops without treatment, and your fertility is affected as a result.
- You are advised to take emergency contraception. You have a known allergy to this contraceptive and suffer an adverse reaction. Nobody checked your medical notes meaning the allergy was overlooked.
It can be difficult to ascertain whether the treatment that caused you harm was an example of negligence or fell within the appropriate standard of care. If you would like to know more about whether you have the grounds to make a claim, get in touch with us today; we’ll be happy to answer any questions you have.
Malpractice In Providing Medications
When you visit a walk-in centre, you might be given some medication. Only doctors and nurse prescribers can prescribe medication, however. If the walk-in centre is nurse-led, this may mean that there is nobody on site who can prescribe you medication. For this reason, you should always call before you visit a walk-in centre to ensure that it’s the best place for you to seek medical attention.
Examples of medication errors that have the potential to cause harm include:
- A spelling mistake on a prescription. This leads to you being given the wrong medication by the pharmacy. Because of this, you become ill.
- The doctor treating you misdiagnoses your condition, meaning that you’re prescribed the wrong medicine.
- You’re told to take the wrong dosage of the medication you’re prescribed, which makes you very unwell.
Taking the wrong medication or the wrong dose can have very serious repercussions for your health. To make a speedy recovery it is vital that a diagnosis is sort as quickly as possible and treatment is appropriate. If this fails to happen it can mean patients suffer for longer and more than they may have needed to. Call and talk to one of our advisors to learn more.
Calculate Compensation For A Bedford Walk-In Centre Medical Negligence Incident
A successful compensation claim for medical negligence could result in you being awarded two different kinds of damages. These are referred to as special and general damages.
General damages are part of your compensation awarded to you for the pain and suffering caused by your injuries. This can be physical or psychological harm.
Guidelines published by the Judicial College can be used to help value these claims. We’ve used these guidelines in the table below to illustrate how much you could be owed for your injuries. Please bear in mind that these are not guaranteed and will depend on the impact your injuries have had on you.
Compensation Table
| Injury Type | How Severe? | Range of Damages | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brain damage | Less severe | £14,380 to £40,410 | Where the affected person will have made a good recovery but may not have had all normal functions restored. As a result, there may be problems with concentration, memory and mood. |
| Tinnitus | Mild | Around £11,000 | Where the injured person experiences tinnitus without noise-induced hearing loss. |
| Lung disease | Bronchitis/chest infections | £2,070 to £5,000 | Where a chest condition like bronchitis is temporarily aggravated but resolves within a few months. |
| Neck injuries | Moderate (iii) | £7,410 to £12,900 | For moderate soft tissue injuries where the recovery is protracted. |
| Shoulder injuries | Moderate | £7,410 to £11,980 | Injuries like frozen shoulder which limit your movement and cause discomfort |
| Wrist | Very minor | £3,310 to £4,450 | Fractures that are undisplaced or very minimally displaced and a full or virtual recovery is made within a year |
The second potential head of a compensation claim is special damages. Special damages cover any financial loss caused directly by your injuries. You will need to provide proof of these expenses in order to claim them back.
Special damages could include:
- Loss of earnings
- Care costs
- The cost of home adaptations
- Travel costs to and from hospital appointments or meetings with your solicitor
It is important to bear in mind when claiming compensation for harm caused by medical negligence that your compensation will only reflect the additional harm caused by the substandard treatment you received.
For example, you may have sought attention for a suspected wrist fracture, and negligence on the part of the doctor treating you meant that the condition got worse and you required surgery as a result. It could be the case that you would have experienced some pain and suffering, as well as loss of function, even without the negligent care you received. If this is the case, you will only be compensated for the additional harm caused by the negligence.
If you would like a free, no-obligation valuation of your claim, why not get in touch with our team today? One of our advisors will be happy to help you.
No Win No Fee Claims For Walk-In Centre Clinical Negligence In Bedford
Have you heard the phrase No Win No Fee? You probably have a general idea of what it means. Here we will explain in more detail. A No Win No Fee type of deal is also sometimes called a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA). It sets out the terms your solicitor needs to meet before they ask you to pay them.
This means that:
- There is no need for you to pay your solicitor to start working on the claim.
- No matter how long it takes to process, you will not be asked to pay any ongoing fees to them at all.
- If the claim is unsuccessful, your lawyer will not expect you to pay them.
If your claim is successful, you will be asked to pay your solicitor a small success fee. The amount of this success fee is legally limited. This ensures that you get the majority of the compensation you’re owed.
If you are interested in No Win No Fee representation, our team can help. They can answer any questions you have and, if they feel your claim is valid, they may be able to connect you with one of our solicitors.
Discuss Your Case With Our Team
We hope that you have found our guide useful. If you have any more questions, feel free to get in touch with our team.
One of our claim advisors can answer any questions you have. They may also be able to connect you with a solicitor who can get the claims process started. Please contact our claims team by:
- Calling 0800 073 8804
- Using our contact form
- Clicking on the “live chat” option to the bottom right of this screen
Related Information – Bedford Walk-In Centres Medical Negligence
These internal links all lead to similar guides to this one. They may be worth reading:
Different types of medical negligence
These external links all lead to websites that have relevant information:
Raising a concern about a doctor
Other Guides Available To Read
- Knee Surgery Gone Wrong Claims Guide
- Rotavirus Compensation Claims Explained
- Liverpool Walk-In Centre Medical Negligence Claims
- Spire Healthcare Negligence Claims Guide
Thank you for reading our guide on the steps you could take if a Bedford Walk-In Centre medical negligence incident were to potentially occur.
Written by Wheeler
Edited by Stocks
