Nursing negligence claims
Despite the increasing pressures, the vast majority of nurses provide excellent standards of care but we regularly deal with cases where there has been a nursing failure or mistake, which has resulted in harm and injury.
There are more than 500,000 nurses in the UK. Nurses cover a diverse and complicated role within our healthcare system. Like doctors, nurses can be trained, qualified, and accredited in different areas of medical care throughout hospitals, hospices, health centres, nursing homes, GP surgeries, and within our communities.
Once a doctor has diagnosed and prescribed a treatment it is the nurse’s job to administer the treatment, monitor progress, and generally care for the patient.
Due to increasing pressures on the NHS, the boundaries between a doctor and a nurse are being continually blurred. Nurses are being given more and more responsibilities while many clinical units remain underfunded and understaffed. For example, this is particularly the case with over reliance on Advanced Nurse Practitioners (NPs) and Emergency Nurse Practitioners (ENPs) in an emergency or out-of-hours settings or doctors and GPs are delegating surgical procedures to Clinical Nurse Specialists.
Due to the restrictions on budgets and staff, nurses sometimes feel under pressure to advise as ‘best they can’, when they should be able to defer to doctors or specialists.
Despite the increasing pressures, the vast majority of nurses provide excellent standards of care but we regularly deal with cases where there has been a nursing failure or mistake, which has resulted in harm and injury.
When is nursing care deemed negligence?
Nursing negligence occurs when it can be established that a nurse owed a duty of care to the patient, the duty of care was breached, and as a direct result of the breach the patient suffered injury or a worsening of their condition.
If this happens, you may have a case for clinical negligence and a claim for compensation to help you cope with the consequences.
Types of nursing negligence claims
The type of negligence claim will depend on many factors, such as the clinical setting and the nurse’s specialism.
It could be an omission or failure to act, like a failure to administer a patient with their medication, monitor a patient’s vital signs, or failure to monitor and prevent bedsores.
Some of the more common types of negligence involve poor aftercare and regular cases that we have dealt with include:
– Failure to monitor and prevent bedsores or pressure ulcers
– Failure to monitor and prevent deep vein thrombosis (DVT)
– Failure to prevent falls and slips
– Poor manual handling and mobility resulting in injury, often in a hospital or care home setting
– Failure to maintaining good levels of cleanliness or hygiene in a hospital or care home setting
– Failing to keep a record of important details on a patient’s chart (e.g. what drugs and dosage the patient has had)
– Failure to write up prescription records or the records are left incomplete
– Failure to review antibiotic prescription
– General medication mistakes and omissions
– Delay or not assessing a patient’s vital signs (e.g. blood pressure, heartbeat and blood sugar)
– Delay or failing to report test and scan results to a doctor or other healthcare professional
– Failure to act on and treat abnormal blood tests and readings
– Missing significant changes to a patient’s condition
– Failure to take appropriate action after changes in a patient’s condition
– Misuse of a medical device
– Losing, damaging or misusing documentation (e.g. X-rays, MRI scans, prescription charts, waterlow scores)
– Failure to follow doctor’s instructions
– Poor handover to other medical professionals leading to omissions or error
– Failure to insert a cannula properly leading to injury or illness
For one of the above types of mistake to be negligent it must be proved that the failure in care resulted in serious harm and injury above and beyond the initial condition the patient was being treated for.