Ambulance delay compensation claims
For experienced legal guidance on making an ambulance delay compensation claim on a No Win – No Fee basis, call our free helpline on 0333 888 0412 or send an email to [email protected]
We are all aware of the growing problem of delays in receiving emergency ambulance assistance, a situation that has worsened since the Covid-19 pandemic. Patients with life threatening illnesses or potentially fatal injuries are having to endure extremely long ambulance waiting times, resulting in some of them becoming more unwell, or even losing their lives. In these circumstances patients often consider seeking ambulance delay compensation.
The position regarding emergency treatment is so bad that it is now being reported that the NHS is actually breaking its agreement to treat patients in a timely manner.
The crisis is being caused by staff shortages and the shortfall of hospital beds, along with the high demand on the NHS. One of the worst affected area is the South West of England, where the call out times of the ambulance life threatening response team has gone from just over 6 minutes (at the start of Covid pandemic), to just under 12 minutes.
This problem does not only apply to those in life threatening situations, people who have had accidents and require immediate assistance are also finding themselves having to wait hours to get help, sometimes being left on the floor in their homes, or out on the street.
We were contacted by a father, whose young daughter suffered an accident whilst playing rugby and had dislocated her hip. Although the accident occurred at approx. 3:30 pm, the ambulance did not attend arrive until almost 8.30 pm. This meant that our client’s daughter was left waiting nearly five hours in a lot of pain.
Once at the hospital, she underwent an operation to manipulate her hip back into place. She remained in hospital but noticed quite quickly that she was having pain in her left leg. She was given pain relief, but no scans were carried out until five days later when a CT scan resulted in a diagnosis of ‘compartment syndrome’. She was taken straight to ICU for an exploratory operation but her condition grew worse, and this eventually led to her leg being amputated. Unfortunately, this was not enough to save her and she sadly passed away 16 days after admission to hospital.
The head of our medical negligence department, Oliver Thorne, has taken this case on, and is dealing with it under our popular no win, no fee scheme. Oliver is currently getting expert evidence to support the negligence claim.
If you have experienced unacceptably long ambulance waiting times and this has led to your condition getting worse, or becoming life threatening, please call our free helpline for guidance on making an ambulance delay compensation claim.