We often turn to the medical profession in times of need, and we hope that they will be able to provide us with the appropriate care to help us with our symptoms. Whilst often, doctors, nurses and other medical professionals live up to their required high standards, sometimes they are negligent and sometimes this causes a delay in diagnosis. In the most serious of cases, this can lead to catastrophic injuries or even fatal medical negligence. This guide will aim to answer any questions you may have about delayed diagnosis claims.
Starting with what is a delayed diagnosis and when it can be caused by negligence, we then move on to what action you can take when a delay happens. We also look at some recent news stories about the subject. As recovering compensation for the damage caused to you is likely to be at the forefront of your mind, we also illustrate to you how damages in medical negligence cases are calculated.
Finally we look at how one of our specialist solicitors can help you on a No Win No Fee basis. If this sounds of interest to you, you can read the rest of this article or contact our advisory team by filling out an online claim form, and we will get back to you ASAP.
Select A Section
- What Are Delayed Diagnosis Claims?
- Can I Claim For A Delayed Diagnosis?
- What Do I Do If I’ve Had A Delayed Diagnosis?
- UK News Stories Related To Having A Delayed Diagnosis
- What Is The Time Limit For Delayed Diagnosis Claims?
- How Much Delayed Diagnosis Compensation Could I Receive?
- Can Delayed Diagnosis Claims Be Brought On A No Win No Fee Basis?
- Read More About Medical Negligence Claims
What Are Delayed Diagnosis Claims?
If your general practitioner (GP) or any other medical professional overlooks, dismisses or ignores your initial symptoms and fails to investigate further, then this can lead to an illness or medical condition progressing to a more serious state. This would be known as a delay in diagnosis.
Such a delay can cause you to suffer avoidable harm and pain. It can also leave you facing a much poorer overall prognosis for your medical condition. If a medical professional’s negligence causes a delay, then a delayed diagnosis compensation claim could be started.
Those treating you in a medical capacity or providing advice to you as their patient owe you a duty. Under this duty, they are expected to meet the minimum accepted standard of medical care. If they fall below this standard, then they will likely have been negligent.
To help assess whether the standard has been sufficiently met, things like the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines or the Royal College of Nursing duty of care guidance can be considered.
Not every delayed diagnosis will be a successful claim, as it is possible for the delay to be caused by a reason that is not the negligence of your doctor or treating clinician. If you think someone may have been negligent and that this caused you harm, why not get in touch with us for a free case assessment?
Can I Claim For A Delayed Diagnosis?
Three elements make up delayed diagnosis claims, and you need to prove as part of your case that:
- A medical professional owed you a duty of care (this is automatic as a patient)
- The duty was breached as the minimum standard of care was not met
- This breach of duty caused you unavoidable harm.
Here are some examples of a potentially strong delayed diagnosis compensation claim:
- Your GP fails to listen to your symptoms properly. They are dismissive as they negligently assume they know what is wrong with you, and they fail to perform an adequate examination. This causes them to misdiagnose you with an incorrect illness, and it is several months before you are correctly diagnosed.
- Test results are mixed up, and you are initially told that you are clear of cancer. Months later, after your symptoms get worse, you are sent for another test, and you receive a delayed cancer diagnosis with a much worse prognosis.
- You have to wait too long for an appointment with a specialist. It turns out that the referral letter was never sent and this causes a delay in diagnosis.
- Important symptoms were completely missed by a medical professional as they forgot to ask about them.
- You are incorrectly triaged when arriving at Accident and Emergency (A&E). This means that you are not seen as an emergency, and even though the delay is short, it has a catastrophic impact on you.
If you think your treatment or care was handled in a substandard manner and that negligence may have occurred, you can contact us to discuss how to proceed with a medical negligence claim.
What Do I Do If I’ve Had A Delayed Diagnosis?
If you have suffered a delayed diagnosis and you think that negligence was the cause, you can explore bringing a claim for compensation.
To build a strong case, evidence will be required. This should be evidence that shows that a duty to you was breached and also that this caused avoidable harm. A specialist solicitor can provide you with legal advice about the specific things required for your individual circumstances, but some of the common forms of evidence include:
- Medical records, e.g. GP notes
- Scans or test results, e.g. MRI scans
- Witness contact details (sometimes the history you provided to a medical professional can be disputed).
- A diary of your symptoms
- Photographs of any visible injuries
- A medical report
Reach out to one of our advisors if you have any questions about delayed diagnosis claims and how to prove them.
UK News Stories Related To Having A Delayed Diagnosis
A delayed diagnosis can happen to anyone seeking medical assistance. Here are some recent news stories covering the topic.
Nicola Cannon – A former Royal Air Force (RAF) servicewoman is facing terminal cancer and experienced a 3-month delay for her scan results. First diagnosed in 2012, Nicola had been in remission for 10 years, but her cancer returned. Nicola told BBC Radio Shropshire, ‘Obviously, they [doctors] are working with one hand behind their back because scans are so out of date by the time they actually get the results’. She also talked about the anxiety caused by having to wait for such important test results.
Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/clyvwylpx15o
Suha Ahmed – A 35 year old woman faces metastatic cancer, and she states that it took 9 months for her to get a diagnosis despite bombarding her GP and attending various emergency departments with complaints of pain. After the birth of her son in 2022, she developed pain in her hip and stomach. By the time she received a scan, the cancer had spread to several areas of her body.
Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cq5xnv0zlqgo
Royal College of Radiologists (RCR) – The RCR has warned of an impending crisis in the cancer workforce, with a 30% shortfall in radiologists and a 15% shortfall in clinical oncologists. Managers at nearly half (47%) of cancer centres said that patients needing chemotherapy were facing delays ‘most weeks or every week’ in a survey carried out in November 2023. This was an increase from 28% the previous year.
Source: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckrrll51xjdo
If you think you have suffered a negligently delayed diagnosis, you can contact us to find out if you are eligible to bring a compensation claim.
What Is The Time Limit For Delayed Diagnosis Claims?
A compensation claim for medical negligence must be brought within the correct time frame. This time frame is 3 years from the date of the harm caused by the breach of duty. Sometimes, you may not realise at the time that the treatment or advice you received was negligent until later down the line. In these cases, the 3 years run from the date you knew (or reasonably should have known) that the breach of duty harmed you.
There are exceptions to this time frame, with the first being those involving children. Under the law, those under 18 cannot bring their own medical negligence claim. They must wait till their 18th birthday and have three years from this date to start their claim. Alternatively, a litigation friend can start a claim on their behalf at any point before they are 18.
The second main exception is for those who lack the mental capacity to make decisions about their case. In this scenario, the time limit is paused until capacity is recovered and runs from 3 years from the date of recovery of capacity. If they do not recover capacity the time limit stays paused. Similarly, a litigation friend can start a case on their behalf whilst this time limit is paused.
A litigation friend is usually a responsible person such as a parent, guardian or sibling, but it does not have to be a member of the injured person’s family. The court will approve any litigation friend as part of the proceedings.
To find out if you are still in time to make a claim, you can get in touch online with one of our advisors.
How Much Delayed Diagnosis Compensation Could I Receive?
How much compensation is recovered in delayed diagnosis claims will depend on several factors. Firstly, two types of damages can be awarded. The first is called general damages, and it is to compensate for the injuries. This includes the pain and suffering, the severity of the injuries and also the future prognosis.
To help assess the impact of the injuries, often an independent medical appointment is arranged and a medical report produced. If you choose to instruct a solicitor to help you with your claim, then they can arrange the appointment so that it is convenient for you.
This report can be used in conjunction with the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). This is a publication that contains a wide variety of physical and psychological injuries and the suggested compensation brackets.
Below is a table that contains some entries from the JCG. It includes the injury, its severity and the compensation bracket. Please bear in mind that the figures are guidelines only. No amount of compensation is guaranteed in a medical negligence case. You should also be aware that the top entry in the table does not come from the JCG.
Injury | Severity | Compensation Bracket | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Multiple severe injuries and financial losses | Serious | Up to £1,000,000 + | Multiple severe injuries with significant financial losses, for example, large loss of earnings. |
Brain Injury | Very Severe | £344,150 to £493,000 | Can follow basic commands but little meaningful interaction with the environment. |
Moderately Severe | £267,340 to £344,150 | Very seriously disabled and dependent on others. | |
Paralysis | Tetraplegia (also known as Quadriplegia) | £396,140 to £493,000 | Loss of the use of the arms and legs. Can include pain and dependence on others. |
Paraplegia | £267,340 to £346,890 | The loss of use of the lower limbs. Can include depression and impact on sexual function. | |
Leg | Amputation | £127,930 to £167,760 | Above-Knee Amputation of One Leg |
Reproductive System: Female | Infertility | £140,210 to £207,260 | Severe pain, depression and anxiety. Sexual dysfunction. |
Infertility | £68,440 to £87,070 | Infertility with no aggravating features or sexual dysfunction in a young person without children. | |
Kidney | Loss of Both Kidneys | £206,730 to £256,780 | Serious and permanent damage to or loss of both kidneys. |
Eyes | Total Blindness | In the region of £327,940 | Total blindness of both eyes. |
Can I Claim For Loss of Earnings In A Delayed Diagnosis Claim?
The second type of damages that can be recovered are called special damages. They compensate for the financial loss that the injuries have caused. Where a delayed diagnosis has caused harm that prevents a person from working, they can seek to add loss of earnings to their claim. All special damages items need to be evidenced, so for the example of loss of earnings this could be through bank statements or wage slips.
Some other financial losses that could be claimed include:
- Future loss of earnings
- Loss of any pension entitlements
- Missed bonus payments
- Private rehabilitation or treatment fees
- Care costs
- Medication fees
- Travel expenses
To learn more about other financial losses that could be claimable, why not reach out to one of our knowledgeable advisors?
Can Delayed Diagnosis Claims Be Brought On A No Win No Fee Basis
Our expert solicitors have years of dedicated medical negligence experience and can help you with your case. They can do this by filling in court documents, negotiating with the defendant and completing your case in a timely manner.
If your case is eligible, you can be offered a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA), which is a type of No Win No Fee agreement. This agreement has several features that you may find useful:
- If your case does not win, you do not pay for any of the solicitor’s fees
- At the start of the case, you do not have to pay upfront for solicitor fees.
- As your case progresses, you will not be required to make payments for the ongoing solicitor fees.
If your case wins, there will be a deduction from the compensation that is paid to your solicitor. This is called a success fee. The deduction is on a percentage basis, and the size of the percentage is agreed upon before the case starts. There is also a legal maximum size that the percentage can be. This means that you will keep the bulk of your compensation.
To find out if you are eligible to work with one of our solicitors, you can fill in an online claim form. We will get back to you ASAP.
Read More About Medical Negligence Claims
Consider these further articles to help you claim compensation from our site:
- Learn how to make a hospital negligence claim.
- Read our guide on how to claim medication error compensation.
- Here is a guide about birth injury compensation claims.
And here are some external materials for your consideration:
- Learn how to give feedback or make a complaint to NHS England.
- Read the General Medical Council’s guide to good medical practice.
- Consider the NHS Resolutions annual report for 2023/2024
Thank you for reading our guide about delayed diagnosis claims.