Never Event Claims
If you have been a victim of a ‘never event,’ you may be entitled to compensation. Hospitals should be places of safety where you should receive the correct treatment but, unfortunately, this is not always the case. Occasionally, the care or treatment provided leads to an event that is regarded as avoidable in a safe healthcare environment. This is a ‘Never Event’.
If, during the course of your medical care, you have fallen victim to a Never Event then you could be entitled to compensation.
What is a Never Event?
Never Event claims are a form of medical negligence that can cause serious injury to you and should simply never have happened with competent care and treatment.
A Never Event occurs due to a failure to provide the expected standard of care. The injuries suffered are avoidable and should never have occurred.
Almost every Never Event leads to injury and, occasionally, death.
NHS England provisional figures indicated that between 1 April 2022 and 31 March 2023, there were 384 Never Events.
This means patients were harmed 384 times in circumstances that were completely avoidable. Although this is a slight decrease on the previous year’s number of reported Never Event incidents (which was 407), there were 26 additional reported incidents in 2022/2023 that did not meet the relevant definition, namely ‘serious incidents that are wholly preventable because guidance or safety recommendations that provide strong systemic protective barriers…and should have been implemented’ were not.
Prominent forms of Never Events include:
- Retained foreign objects following a procedure
- Using the wrong implant or prosthesis
- Carrying out the wrong surgery
- Carrying out surgery at the wrong site
- Administering the wrong medication or the incorrect dosage
- Causing injury through incompetent care, for example, scalding a patient or not preventing a fall from a window
If any of the above situations have happened to you, you may be entitled to claim compensation for your resulting pain and suffering.
We urge you to contact Medical Negligence Solutions to discuss the options available to you.
Why do Never Events Occur?
The NHS defines a clear framework for the specific incidents that constitute a Never Event, which generally occur when the correct processes have not been followed.
The cause of Never Events can usually be traced to human error; however, there are many reasons why human errors occur.
Some of the more common reasons may be poor communication between clinical professionals, inadequate monitoring, lack of adequate training or understanding or basic miscalculation.
Have you been a victim to a Never Event?
When a Never Event has occurred, you or your loved ones should be notified during care or following this via a phone call or letter. All such events must be investigated, and you should be made aware that the event has happened.
If you have (or suspect you have) suffered because of a medical mistake that should never have occurred, we encourage you to get in touch with the Medical Negligence Solutions team.
Contact us for a free, no-obligation consultation with our specialist clinical negligence solicitors to find out if you are eligible to bring a Never Event compensation claim.
