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GP Negligence

The GP is normally your first point of contact for non-emergency medical concerns and is often the gatekeeper to Secondary Care.

GPs are involved in our healthcare from conception to elderly care. They are responsible for and highly knowledgeable in a vast range of physical, mental and social areas of medicine. Some GPs will also have a special interest in a particular area of expertise (such as dermatology). They are involved in many aspects of their patients’ medical needs - assessment, diagnosis, referral, management, prevention and treatment of illness. Other medical practice staff working in conjunction with GPs you may also see at the GP surgery include Nurse Practitioners (who are expert in the treatment of minor illnesses), Practice Nurses (who may also run their own clinics for ailments such as diabetes, asthma and high blood pressure) and Health Visitors.

Services your GP may provide include:

  • Testing, diagnosis and treatment of common illnesses
  • Referral to Secondary Care specialists for further testing, procedures or treatment. 
  • Prescribing and monitoring of medication 
  • Management of pre-existing or new chronic illness (e.g. diabetes, cancer, dementia, heart disease)
  • Immunization and travel jabs
  • Screening Programmes (e.g. cervical smear tests, bowel and cardiovascular)
  • Preventative Health Care (e.g. Blood Pressure monitoring, Smoking Cessation and Dietary Advice)
  • Minor Surgery (e.g. wart removal, mole removal and ear syringing)
  • Surgical after-care (e.g. wound dressing)
  • Family Planning and Pregnancy
  • Palliative Care
  • Mental Health management (e.g. stress, anxiety, depression)

GPs are highly experienced clinicians and provide the majority of patients with the appropriate, high standard of treatment expected. With an aging, growing UK population and increased pressure on Primary Care services, occasionally the care you receive from your GP may fall below the standard expected. This can result in a mistake causing injury to the patient. This is medical negligence. Medical negligence within General Practice can result in devastating consequences or even death. GP medical negligence means the care or treatment you received from your GP fell below medically acceptable standards and this directly made your illness worse, prevented good recovery or meant you acquired avoidable, additional injury, pain or trauma (short-term or long-term). When this happens you or your loved one may have a cause for a GP medical negligence claim. 

  • Common GP Negligence claims

    Common reasons for making a GP Negligence claim include:

    • Unreasonable delay of diagnosis
    • Misdiagnosis
    • Failure of diagnosis 
    • Delay in referral to Secondary Care 
    • Failure to refer to Secondary Care 
    • Failure to refer for investigations (e.g. blood tests, radiology) 
    • Delay in treatment 
    • Prescribing or administration of the incorrect medication
    • Failure to read results 
    • Failure to carry out hospital follow-up recommendations 
    • Mismanagement of long-term conditions 
    • Incorrect recording of results leading to incorrect treatment

  • How to prove GP negligence

    Two legal aspects must be proved to successfully establish a case:

    • That the standard of treatment and care has fallen below the standards of reasonable competence in a particular field of medicine. In a medical negligence case, that standard is considered independently by a medical expert practising in the same area of medicine who provides an opinion independently on the basis that the case may one day go to court.
    • That but for the negligence, the injury would not have arisen or that the negligence caused worse pain and suffering and loss than may have been the case absent the negligence.

    It is important to know and understand that both legal aspects have to be proved to pursue a case.

  • How we can help you claim compensation for GP Medical Negligence

    It can take courage and can initially feel daunting approaching a medical negligence solicitor. This is particularly so when wishing to challenge the treatment and care provided by healthcare professionals who we often hold in high regard and who we place our health and trust in. The medical profession is not selective in who they cause harm to.

    It is important to appreciate that mistakes happen in any situation involving human beings, regardless of how well trained, skilled, experienced and caring they are. Where mistakes are made and harm is caused with regard to patient care there are consequences that may lead a patient wishing to consider instructing a solicitor to act on their behalf to bring legal action.

    More often than not, a patient will not be considering financial compensation once medical negligence has arisen. They do not see it being about money rather that they don’t want it to happen to anybody else. This is entirely understandable. As humans, we trust in the training and expertise of our healthcare professionals and don’t expect harm to be caused. Many patients want lessons to be learned to prevent further harm for others.

    Pursuing a claim against a healthcare professional (public and private) does raise awareness. Pursuing a claim leads to investigation and scrutiny and consideration of existing policies and procedures and to further training. It also allows for a financial settlement to be awarded which places a patient in a better position than they may have otherwise been. Financial compensation enhances the quality of life and where it is not about money, it allows a patient to do good with any settlement they may be awarded.

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