Have you or a loved one been injured in an accident in a care home? You may be wondering how to sue a care home for negligence.
How to sue a care home for negligence
To be eligible to make a personal injury claim, the care home must have breached its duty of care, and injuries need to have been sustained as a direct result of this.
After the accident, you could be thinking:
- Is there a personal injury claims time limit?
- How much compensation for injuries could I receive?
- What are the benefits of a No Win No Fee agreement?
This guide will aim to provide answers to those questions. We will also explore the duty of care that care homes owe in greater detail while providing specific examples of how it can be breached.
Additionally, we will examine the ways in which gathering evidence and claiming with a solicitor’s help can enhance your case’s chances of success.
Although if you would rather speak to a member of our team, you can. They can offer you a free consultation at a time that suits you best. To get in touch:
- Call us on 0800 408 7827
- Speak to an advisor via the live chat feature below
- Contact us via our online form
Choose A Section
- Learn How To Sue A Care Home For Negligence
- What Is Care Home Negligence?
- Potential Personal Injury Claim Payouts
- How To Sue A Care Home For Negligence- The Important Of Evidence
- Why Make Personal Injury Claims On A No Win No Fee Basis?
- Read More About How To Sue A Care Home For Negligence
Learn How To Sue A Care Home For Negligence
As previously stated, if you or a loved one has suffered an injury in a care home due to negligence, you may be able to make a personal injury claim.
The severity of the injuries suffered, the impact they have on you mentally and any financial damages incurred will determine how much compensation you could be eligible to receive.
It must be remembered that not all injuries in a care home will lead to a valid personal injury claim. You or a loved one must have experienced an injury as the result of a breach of duty in order to be able to claim.
You may be abe to claim on behalf of a loved one who has been injured due to negligence as a litigation friend. This is someone who claims on behalf of a party who is not capable of doing so themselves, for example, because of a lack of mental capacity.
For more information on litigation friends and how to sue a care home for negligence, please get in touch with a member of our team.
What Is Care Home Negligence?
There are two central pieces of legislation that are responsible for outlining the rules that care homes must follow in terms of the safety of their residents and employees. The first of these is the Health and Safety At Work Etc Act 1974.
HASAWA sets out the need for employers to ensure the safety of those that they employ as much as is reasonably practicable. If you’re injured by them breaching the duty of care they owe, you could sue your employer.
Some of the steps that employers should take to fulfil this duty of care include:
- Carrying out risk assessments
- Providing sufficient training to employees
- Making sure there are enough employees on duty to manage patients safely
- Good housekeeping is maintained
Furthermore, the Occupiers’ Liability Act 1957 outlines the requirement for those in control of public spaces to ensure that it’s safe to be used for the intended purpose with reasonable safety.
- A patient slips, trips or falls on a wet floor that has not been cleared or signposted despite it being there for a prolonged period of time. Consequently, the patient suffers a broken hip injury.
- A member of staff without the necessary training drops a patient whilst moving them. Subsequently, the patient sustains a broken rib injury, and the employee sustains a broken foot.
- A visitor to the space pours a cup of tea for their relative but the teapot is faulty. This had been recorded but no steps were taken to rectify the issue. As a result, the visitor suffers a scald injury to their hand.
Please contact our advisors if you have been involved in a situation similar to the above examples and are wondering how to sue a care home for negligence.
Potential Personal Injury Claim Payouts
The compensation you could be awarded for a successful personal injury claim may be split into two heads of claim. These are called general damages and special damages.
General damages seek to reimburse you for any physical or mental pain and suffering endured as a result of your injuries.
For example, you may be compensated for a leg injury or broken forearm. Furthermore, you could be compensated for any distress, anxiety, or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) caused by your injuries.
We have included a table of compensation amounts from the Judicial College Guidelines (JCG). The JCG is a document used by legal professionals when valuing claims; however, these figures are not guaranteed. This is because each personal injury claim is unique, and the settlement you might be owed could be different.
| Body Part | Severity | Compensation Bracket |
|---|---|---|
| Head | Moderate (i) | £150,110 to £219,070 |
| Chest | Serious | £100,670 to £150,110 |
| Back | Severe (i) | £91,090 to £160,980 |
| Leg | Amputation | £97,980 to £132,990 |
| Leg | Less serious (i) | £17,960 to £27,760 |
| Arm | Severe | £96,160 to £130,930 |
| Psychiatric Damage (Generally) | Severe | £54,830 to £115,730 |
| Hand | Serious | £55,820 to £84,570 |
| Wrist | Complete function loss | £47,620 to £59,860 |
| Elbow | Severely disabling | £39,170 to £54,830 |
How Can You Claim For Special Damages?
On the other hand, special damages account for any financial losses incurred due to your injuries. For example, a severe back injury could see you suffering permanent disabilities. Any home adaptations required may be covered by special damages.
This head of a claim could also cover:
- Loss of earnings
- Care costs
- Medical expenses
- Travel costs
It is advisable to keep evidence of any monetary losses to increase your chances of your settlement covering all of your losses.
Please contact a member of our team for a more detailed view of how much compensation you could be owed.
How To Sue A Care Home For Negligence- The Important Of Evidence
Gathering evidence is a good way to prove that negligence has occurred, to demonstrate that you have been injured, and to illustrate the extent of your injuries.
You may wish to do this in the following ways:
- Seek medical attention to be treated for your injuries and also generate medical records. You can also keep a record of correspondence with medical professionals, including records of symptoms and treatments.
- Gather witnesses’ contact details for statements to be taken at a later date
- Gather CCTV footage of the incident
- Take photographs of your injuries and/ or the scene of the accident
Lastly, you could seek legal advice. An advisor from our team can provide more information on how to sue a care home for negligence. If they feel that your claim is valid, they could connect you with a No Win No Fee solicitor from our panel.
Why Make Personal Injury Claims On A No Win No Fee Basis?
A No Win No Fee agreement can be a beneficial way of allowing you access to a personal injury lawyer without any upfront fees. Generally, the solicitors from our panel work under a Conditional Fee Agreement (CFA) which comes under the No Win No Fee umbrella.
A CFA means that you will not have to pay any fees to your lawyer upfront or while your case is ongoing. If your claim for a personal injury is lost, you will generally not have to pay any legal fees.
If your claim is won, you will be required to pay a success fee. This will be capped by law and taken from your compensation by your solicitor.
Get in touch with our advisors for advice on how to sue a care home for negligence.
Contact Us For Free To See If You Can Sue For Negligence
Our advisors are on call to help you with any queries 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They can offer you legal advice completely free of charge if you are still wondering, “how do I sue a care home for negligence?”.
Furthermore, they could connect you with one of the personal injury claim solicitors from our panel if they deem you to have an eligible claim.
To get in touch:
- Call us on 0800 408 7827
- Speak to an advisor via the live chat feature below
- Contact us via our online form
Read More About How To Sue A Care Home For Negligence
We have provided you with some of our own guides that may be of use to you:
- Suing a nursing home for personal injury
- Suing for a food allergic reaction
- Claiming if injured in the office
Additionally, we have included some further reading related to this topic:
- Health and Safety Executive – Guidance on health and safety
- The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) – Our vision and mission
- An NHS guide – Stress
Thank you for reading our guide. If you have any more questions about how to sue a care home for negligence, please get in touch.
Writer PAS
Publisher STO