Care Home Negligence Claims
If you or a loved one has been injured or made ill while resident in a care home, you could be able to make a medical negligence claim against the care provider.
Care home negligence
If your loved one lives in a care home, you should expect them to be treated with respect and dignity. The staff in most care homes do their best to take good care of their residents.
But that doesn’t always happen.
When your loved one has suffered from poor or substandard treatment, they could have experienced care home negligence. And if this is the case, you will no doubt feel upset and even angry on their behalf.
Our specialist medical negligence solicitors can help you make things right if your loved one has suffered from neglect in their care home.
Examples of care home negligence
Some of the most common examples of negligence in care homes include:
- Abuse from staff
If you are being prevented from seeing your loved one for suspicious reasons or they appear to have bruises or cuts when you do see them, they could be experiencing abuse.
- Failure to provide food and water
Your loved one may end up underweight and suffering from malnutrition or dehydration if they don’t get enough proper food to eat and water to drink.
It’s vital that a person receives the correct medication for them, or they risk damaging their health. If a care home provides the wrong medication to a resident, this could be negligence.
- Mental health problems
Mental health problems, such depression or anxiety, can be caused by not being treated properly by the care home staff who are supposed to look after your loved one.
- Misdiagnosis or delayed diagnosis of medical problems
If your loved one develops a medical condition and their care home prevents the correct diagnosis or a timely diagnosis being made, they could end up more unwell.
- Poor training that can lead to injuries
Care home staff often have to physically help residents get around. If they haven’t been properly trained in the correct methods, your loved one could end up injured.
Pressure sores are painful and can be avoided. If left untreated, pressure sores can end up affecting the tissue, muscle and even bone.
Who is responsible for care home neglect?
In most cases, the care home provider will be responsible for any negligence that happens in the home. They are required to ensure that residents are treated well and kept as safe and healthy as possible.
When they fail in this duty, they then become responsible for any harm that comes to your loved one. You can then make a medical negligence compensation claim against the provider.
There may also be cases when an individual care home staff member has treated your loved one negligently or abused them. You may then be able to make a claim against them.
How long do I have to make a care home negligence claim?
You will usually have three years to make a claim from the date the negligence happened or the date you discover negligence has taken place. This may sound like a long time to start legal action, but it’s highly advisable to begin your claim as soon as possible.
This is because it can be more straightforward to get hold of certain pieces of evidence, such as CCTV footage or witness statements. You’ll also allow your solicitors enough time to investigate and submit the claim by beginning the process as quickly as you can.
There are some exceptions to the three-year rule, though. If you are claiming on behalf of someone who lacks the mental capacity to claim for themselves, then you won’t face a deadline unless they regain capacity.
How can I pay for a claim?
In most cases, we will be able to take on your claim on a No Win No Fee basis. This means there is nothing to pay upfront. This lets you focus on your loved one and finding them the right treatment or somewhere new to live instead of worrying about how to pay for a claim.
No Win No Fee also means you won’t have to pay any fees if your claim is not successful. There is no financial risk involved in claiming.
Our solicitors will ensure you are told about any costs at the beginning of the claims process. You won’t face any surprise costs.
Only pay a fee if you receive compensation
Our No Win No Fee solicitors will take a success fee from the compensation you are awarded for a successful claim in the form of a percentage of your damages. This could be up to 25% but it won't be more than that, except in cases of road traffic accidents. Changing laws mean our solicitors will now take a payment of 35% of the final compensation amount plus VAT for all road traffic accident claims.
First4Lawyers are an award-winning claims management company with a track record of delivering service that our clients love.
Why should I make a care home claim?
You entrusted the health and care of your loved one to a care home that has proved itself to be negligent. They failed in their duty of care to keep their residents healthy and well. But you have legal rights to address this.
Making a compensation claim could help you secure your loved one’s future by helping you pay for medical treatment, finding them somewhere new to live and covering any other related expenses.
Don’t forget that by making a claim, you raise awareness of what has gone wrong in the care home. This can be particularly important if the provider doesn’t know what has been happening.
By making a claim, you can help the care home provider sort out the issues that led to the negligence. This can stop it happening to any other residents.
If you need help from care home solicitors, get in touch to find out how First4Layers could help you.
