An update on my case

[Imagine1]

Hi, I had a bad accident at home 3 years ago and I am now left disabled due to the fact the NHS never helped me at the time of going to hospital. I saw a solicitor who said he would take the case on, months later having filled out all the forms he said there was nothing he could do, then I saw another one who said the same thing during this time I was told about the Ombudsman who could help, I wanted compensation not an apology because I need the money for future medical treatment due to not trusting the NHS. I tried again with a solicitor and he spoke to the partners and said that I had a fantastic case and he would take the case on for me. It took 2 years through the pandemic where everywhere was shut, to be eventually told that I would be receiving compensation of £30,000. I was overjoyed. Then a week later my solicitor emailed me to tell me that the NHS had denied liability and I wouldn't get a penny. I couldn't believe it. The solicitor told me that I could contact the Ombudsman which I did straight away. I got a phone call from them and even though it was over the 12 month period they would take the case on, but first I needed an assessment. I have just received a letter to be told because the complaint has exceeded the time limit which they knew about and I gave my reasons they are not taking the case on because I didn't complain sooner. How could I when I was seeing a solicitor? it wasn't my fault that there was a pandemic and everything stopped. But that wasn't good enough. So now I am left disabled, no money and I am never going to the NHS again for anything, I don't trust them and never will. How can this possibly happen when I had good reasons not to consult with the Ombudsman and I thought that they helped people? obviously I am wrong.

[cyberbarn]

Thank you for your update. I am so sorry to hear that they have treated you so badly.

It is well known in research circles that dealing with complaints as soon as they are realised results in better outcomes for both patients and the NHS. One of the first experiments that showed this was in a university hospital in America where they kept getting sued. Eventually they turned things around by going for a no fault investigation, getting the patient and family around the table at the first instance. And the first thing the patients gets is an apology!

They found that by listening to the patient and settling problems really quickly, they stopped being sued which saved a lot of money, even though they were still paying out for errors.

I hope that one day NHS England and our politicians will realise that root cause analysis, learning from errors, and listening to patients not only gives better outcomes but is actually less expensive.

i am sorry though, I don't have any ideas of where to go from here, but I don't blame you for never wanting to use the NHS again. However, have you thought of becoming an Expert by Experience with any of the NHS trusts close to you? You could use your experience to help change the way they treat patients. At least something good might come out of this.

[calliejx]

I think this is awful as it was all out of your control. Could your MP help at all?

[Imagine1 in reply to calliejx]

Thank you for your advice, but absolute waste of time, by the time they sort something out I would have got the appointment, thank you anyway. xx