In a medical emergency, patients rely on ambulances and paramedics. They will often provide the first line of urgently needed medical care. An ambulance providing an effective and timely response could prevent serious, long-term injuries or even death. The outcome of serious conditions, such as heart attacks or strokes, could be impacted by early treatment. Critically ill patients will depend on the care provided. If you have been harmed due to a delayed ambulance, you could claim ambulance delay compensation.
In this medical negligence claims guide, we look at when you could claim for delays to ambulance treatment, such as delays in call handling, prioritisation of patients’ needs (triage), and care provided by a paramedic.
Contact our team today to claim for ambulance delays.
- Phone our team 0800 073 8801.
- Start a claim using our online form.
- Talk to us using the live support below.
Browse Our Guide
- How Much Ambulance Delay Compensation Could You Receive?
- What Are Ambulance Delays?
- Are Ambulance Delays Negligent?
- How Long Do You Have To Claim For Ambulance Delays?
- What Could Help You Make A Delayed Ambulance Claim?
- Can You Claim Ambulance Delay Compensation On A No Win No Fee Basis?
- Read More About Medical Negligence Claims
How Much Ambulance Delay Compensation Could You Receive?
One of the most frequently asked questions about medical negligence claims is how much compensation you could receive for your injuries. In order to estimate how much compensation you may be eligible to claim, several factors need to be taken into account. These include:
- What injury you suffered.
- How serious the injury was.
- Whether you have lost income as a result of the incident.
- Whether you have had to pay for medical care or other expenses.
Compensation for your pain and suffering is called general damages. To estimate this compensation, your solicitor, as well as other parties, may use the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). This document contains guidelines on how much compensation may be awarded for different injuries, and in an ambulance delay claim, you will be compensated for the injuries and symptoms caused by the delay.
The table below provides examples taken from the JCG. Please be aware that row one is an illustration of what you could claim with special damages. The figure is not taken from the JCG.
| Injury | Classification | Notes | Guidelines On Compensation |
|---|---|---|---|
| Multiple signifiacnt injuries. | Serious up to severe | Compensation for multiple, serious types of injury with financial losses. | Up to £1,000,000+ inclusive of loss of earnings and other financial losses. |
| Head/ brain injury | Moderately severe - B | Damages may be awarded based on the degree of insight the person has, their life expectancy and how much they are dependent on others. | £267,340 to £344,150 |
| Head/ brain injury | Moderate - C - i | The person has a moderate to severe level of intellectual deficit. | £183,190 to £264,340 |
| Neck injury | Severe - A - ii | Fractures or damage to the discs in the cervical spine giving rise to disability. | £80,240 to £159,770 |
| Leg injury | Severe - B - ii - very serious | An injury which leaves the person with permanent mobility problems. | £66,920 to £109,290 |
| Back injury | Severe - A - ii | This could include damage to the nerve root and loss of sensation as well as mobility impairment. | £90,510 to £107,910 |
| Elbow injury | A - severe / disabling | This is a severe or disabling injury. | £47,810 to £66,920 |
| Wrist injury | B - severe/ permanent disability | The person has a permanent and significant degree of disability. There is some useful movement still. | £29,900 to £47,810 |
| Knee injury | Moderate - B - i | Torn cartilage, dislocations and those causing minor instability may be included in this bracket. | £18,110 to £31,960 |
| Achilles tendon injury | Moderate - C | Partial rupture of the tendon or other significant injury. | £15,370 to £25,710 |
Additionally to general damages discussed above. You could also claim for special damages. These could include:
- Medical costs,
- Care costs.
- Loss of earnings.
- Property adaptations, such as making adaptations to your home.
Special damages are designed to compensate people for the wider financial impact. They must have been caused by the ambulance delay.
Can You Claim For The Long Term Impact Of An Ambulance Delay?
Ambulance delay compensation could compensate you for the long-term impact of delays to getting treatment. In a medical emergency, it is important that an ambulance gets to you as quickly as possible. Paramedics may be the first medical professionals to assess your condition and begin treatment. A delay could have a large impact on your health outcome. In the most serious medical emergencies delayed diagnosis or treatment could be fatal.
Our solicitors are experienced in helping people to make ambulance delay compensation claims. Contact us to find out how they could help you.
What Are Ambulance Delays?
NHS 111, the 999 service and ambulance services have a responsibility to provide safe and appropriate medical care to patients. If an ambulance is delayed or paramedics provide negligent treatment you could claim compensation.
An ambulance delay is when an ambulance does not arrive within acceptable response times. There are different response times for different ambulance response categories. The categories are based on the level of medical emergency. Ambulance delays could also include delays in getting to the hospital and delays in transferring patients from the ambulance service to an A&E department.
There are several factors which could lead to ambulance delays. Factors may include:
- Pressure on NHS staff.
- Inadequate staff training.
- Inadequate equipment or resources.
If you have been harmed by negligent ambulance treatment contact us to make a compensation claim today.
Are Ambulance Delays Negligent?
Next we look at what is classed as clinical negligence and when you could make a medical negligence claim. In order to claim compensation, you will need to show that the ambulance service, a paramedic or other medical professional has acted negligently and that this negligence caused you harm.
The basic eligibility requirements your claim needs to meet are:
- That a medical or healthcare professional or organisation owed you a duty of care. The ambulance service and paramedics will owe you a duty of care as a patient calling for emergency medical care.
- That the party above breached their duty of care to you. For example, if they negligently failed to attend to you in an adequate response time, failed to transfer you to a hospital correctly or provided you with treatment that did not meet the correct standard.
- This breach caused you harm in some way.
In order to make a claim, you need to prove that the other party has been negligent. This may be established by applying the Bolam test. This states that a medical professional has been negligent if they have failed to reach the medically accepted standard of care. So, just because an ambulance has been delayed does not mean that they have acted negligently.
Circumstances in which an ambulance has not acted negligently could include where the ambulance is stuck in unavoidable traffic and can not get to you.
Overall, medical negligence cases are complex and our team of advisors can assist you further to see if you have grounds to claim compensation due to a delayed ambulance.
How Could An Ambulance Delay Impact You?
As we have noted already, it is critically important that paramedics and an ambulance reach you quickly in a medical emergency. How quickly they get to you, the decisions they make and the care they provide can have a critical impact on your recovery.
A delayed ambulance could impact conditions such as;
- Cauda equina syndrome.
- Brain injuries or strokes.
- Serious bleeding.
- Internal organ injuries/ internal bleeding.
- Sepsis.
- Heart attacks.
- Asthma attacks.
- Birth injury.
- Severe allergic reactions or anaphylaxis.
The failure to treat these or other conditions could lead to cardiac arrest or long-term disabilities. Paralysis could be caused by a stroke which is not diagnosed and treated early enough. In the most serious ambulance negligence cases, a patient could die.
To see if you can claim ambulance delay compensation, contact us for free using the above details.
How Long Do You Have To Claim For Ambulance Delays?
The standard time limit applicable to ambulance negligence cases is three years. This is the limitation period in which a claim must be started. The time limit will begin from either:
- The date of the ambulance delay and negligence.
- The date on which you realised you had been harmed. Harm may not be diagnosed immediately.
These time limits are set out in the Limitation Act 1980. Whilst many cases will fall into this time limit, there are instances in which you may have longer in which to make ambulance delay claims.
- Those who lack the mental capacity to make their own claim will not be bound by the three-year time limit. In such cases the limitation period is indefinitely suspended. If the person does regain their mental capacity, the three-year time limit will then apply from the date they recover capacity.
- Those under the age of eighteen. The time limit will be frozen until they reach the age of eighteen. It will run till their 21st birthday.
In these cases, another person may make an ambulance negligence claim on behalf of the injured party. To do so, they will need to apply to the court to act as a Litigation friend.
Our team can help assess your eligibility to claim and check what time limit applies to your ambulance delay compensation claim. Please get in touch.
What Could Help You Make A Delayed Ambulance Claim?
You will need to prove your case following an ambulance delay. To do so, you can gather evidence which shows that the ambulance delay caused you harm that was both avoidable and negligent. If you received negligent treatment which contributed to the harm you suffered, you will need to provide evidence of this.
Evidence which may support a delayed ambulance claim could include;
- Evidence showing the delay in an ambulance getting to you was avoidable.
- Records of the time of your call and the time the ambulance arrived at your location.
- Copies of your medical records which show the impact of delayed treatment.
- Opinions from other medical experts, such as those from a medical assessment.
- Reports from the NHS trust if the incident has been investigated.
A No Win No Fee solicitor could provide further advice on the specific types of evidence which could support your medical negligence claim.
Can You Claim Ambulance Delay Compensation On A No Win No Fee Basis?
As we have explored in this guide, negligent delays in an ambulance getting to you or beginning treatment could have serious, adverse effects on your health. If you can show that the delay was avoidable or that negligence occurred you could claim with a No Win No Fee solicitor. Claims made on a No Win No Fee basis may be made using a Conditional Fee Agreement.
What are conditional fee agreements? This is a way to make a claim, such as a paramedic negligence claim, without the need to pay your solicitor upfront fees for their work. You will also not have to pay for ongoing fees and if your case is unsuccessful, there is nothing to pay.
If you win, you will be charged a success fee. This is a percentage of your settlement. The percentage is legally capped, meaning you keep the majority of your settlement.
For more advice on how to claim on a No Win No Fee basis, contact our team.
- Call us on 0800 073 8801.
- Start a claim for medical negligence with our online form.
- Use the live support to talk to our team.
Read More About Medical Negligence Claims
Below, we have provided further medical negligence claim guides.
- A paramedic may have given you the wrong medication. If so, your condition may have been made worse, and you could claim with medical negligence solicitors.
- You could claim for negligent treatment in health and social care with our team.
- You could claim against the NHS for misdiagnosis if you can prove that your doctor negligently failed to correctly diagnose your illness.
References.
- Here, you can find information from NHS England on improving ambulance services and response times.
- Find out UK Ambulance Services in this resource from the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives.
- Find urgent and emergency care using this NHS resource.
Thank you for reading our guide to ambulance delay compensation claims. If you have any questions about claiming for medical negligence, please contact our team.
