Never Event Claims

It is a patient’s right to receive quick and suitable treatment for their illness or injury, and if clinical negligence on the part of a GP or hospital staff lead to you enduring unnecessary suffering, then you may be entitled to make a claim.

“Every single never event puts patients at risk of harm which is avoidable. People who suffer severe harm because of mistakes can suffer serious physical and psychological effects for the rest of their lives, and that should never happen to anyone who seeks treatment from the NHS,” said Dr Mike Durkin, National Director of Patient Safety at NHS England.

Healys has a team of friendly, qualified, and experienced solicitors who could help you bring a claim against the individual, group, firm, or organisation responsible for the harm you sustained.

There are many different types of clinical negligence, but some cases in which Healys could represent you fall under the term ‘never events’.

Never events are incidents which the UK government’s Department of Health (DH) categorizes as being entirely preventable. Unfortunately, there are individuals who do endure these events – and they could be entitled to bring a never events claim through our medical negligence solicitors.

Never events

The DH’s list of never events 2012-13 includes 25 types of negligence which should never take place. They are split into five categories and are as follows:

Surgical

• Wrong site surgery
• Wrong implant/prosthesis
• Retained foreign object post-operation.

Medication events

• Wrongly prepared high-risk injectable medication
• Maladministration of potassium-containing solutions
• Wrong route administration of chemotherapy
• Wrong route administration of oral/enteral treatment
• Intravenous administration of epidural medication
• Maladministration of Insulin
• Overdose of midazolam during conscious sedation
• Opioid overdose of an opioid-naïve patient
• Inappropriate administration of daily oral methotrexate.

Mental health

• Suicide using non-collapsible rails
• Escape of a transferred prisoner.

General healthcare

• Falls from unrestricted windows
• Entrapment in bedrails
• Transfusion of ABO-incompatible blood components
• Transplantation of ABO incompatible organs as a result of error
• Misplaced naso- or oro-gastric tubes
• Wrong gas administered
• Failure to monitor and respond to oxygen saturation
• Air embolism
• Misidentification of patients
• Severe scalding of patients.

Maternity

• Maternal death due to post partum haemorrhage after elective Caesarean section.

How Healys can help

Although all never events put patients at unnecessary risk of harm, not all of these incidents result in injury. If you, or a member of your family, suffered one of these incidents and sustained injury or illness as a result, it may be in your interests to make a never events claim. Please contact Healys at our offices in Brighton and London for help and advice relating to your rights and the compensation claims process.

We could help you receive compensation to recoup the cost of medical bills and lost earnings. Furthermore, we will always strive to negotiate the maximum compensation for our clients, so that they can afford the best quality treatment and rehabilitation. Wherever possible, we will also seek interim payments to cover the costs of your immediate needs.