By Cat Mulligan. Last Updated 24th August 2023. This guide could help answer questions about receiving NHS injury at work compensation. In Great Britain, the principles of receiving compensation for an accident at work are the same regardless of who your employer is. All employers owe their employees a duty of care.
NHS injury at work compensation guide
Our advisors offer free legal advice, so if you have any questions about claiming for an NHS injury at work, please contact us at a time that works for you. They’re available 24/7 and can provide you with a quick and simple compensation estimate. Furthermore, they can put you through to our panel of specialist solicitors who can work your case on a No Win No Fee basis.
Contact us at a time that suits you using the details below.
- Call us now using 0800 408 7825
- Contact us through our website
- Provide details of your injury through our Live Chat window
Read on to learn more about making a personal injury claim for an NHS accident at work.
Select A Section
- NHS Injury At Work Compensation Claims
- What Accidents Could Happen Working In The NHS?
- NHS Staff Back Injuries At Work
- Assaults In NHS Workplaces
- How To Prove The NHS Is Responsible For Your Injury
- Injury At Work Compensation – NHS Injury At Work Claim Calculator
- Can I Use No Win No Fee Solicitors For An Injury At Work In The NHS?
- Get Help With Claims Against The NHS
NHS Injury At Work Compensation Claims
Any successful personal injury claim rests on proving the below three principles:
- Firstly, the third party has a duty of care towards you.
- Secondly, they broke this duty of care.
- Finally, this breach of duty actions caused your injury.
If you’ve suffered an injury while you work in the NHS, you may be able to claim for compensation if the injury was caused by employer negligence. This is because every employer in Great Britain has a duty of care, as illustrated in The Health and Safety At Work etc. Act 1974. Employer negligence is when they breach their duty of care, leading to your injury.
Every employer needs to take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure that their employees can carry out their roles without risk of injury. Therefore, if you’ve suffered injury because they’ve failed to do this, you could be entitled to claim.
To learn more about claiming, please read on or call our advisors. They’re available 24/7, have years of experience and can provide answers to any questions or queries about whether you can claim for an NHS injury. Contact them using the details above.
What Accidents Could Happen Working In The NHS?
There are many ways you could suffer injuries during NHS employment. Proving the three principles in the previous section is necessary for receiving NHS accident compensation.
This is because, by proving them, you’ve shown that your injury was wholly or mainly attributable to employer negligence. Furthermore, examples of incidents that could lead to you claiming for an NHS injury include:
- Injuries caused by faulty equipment. This could cause a minor accident or lead to a serious head injury, for instance.
- Injuries caused by damaged or faulty facilities that your employer knew (or should have known) about.
- Trips and falls caused by damaged flooring or hazards.
- Wet floor accidents. For example, you could slip or trip on a wet floor that was not signposted within a reasonable time.
- Muscular injuries due to manual handling accidents. Examples of this would include suffering a back injury because you were asked to lift something too heavy.
NHS Staff Back Injuries At Work
Expanding on that final point is important because manual handling accidents can greatly impact your quality of life. With these kinds of injuries, you may be seeking NHS injury at work compensation because you’re unable to return to work. This type of injury can lead to persistent back pain or require complex surgery that could threaten your ability to walk.
The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) provide work-related advice and guidance to help prevent accidents at the workplace. They state that it’s important for your employer to:
- Provide the right level of training to move objects safely and securely.
- Not request that you lift an object that is too heavy.
- Assess the safety of the environment when requesting you to move the object.
- Provide the correct equipment to help with manual handling, if required. They would also need to ensure that the equipment was of a high enough standard to perform the task safely.
Examples of incidents you may be claiming for include suffering pain to your legs and joints due to moving an MRI machine or injuring your arms because you moved an X-ray machine without being sufficiently trained.
However, as with any injury or illness, whether you can claim compensation depends on if you can prove that negligence was the primary cause. The amount of compensation you could receive depends on the extent and severity of your injury.
For more information on how you could receive NHS injury at work compensation, speak with an advisor today.
Assaults In NHS Workplaces
In some cases, you might be assaulted as an NHS worker. If this is the case, there are two main channels through which you may be able to claim.
You could make a personal injury claim if your employer’s negligence led to you being injured. For example, they may have asked you to restrain a patient who should have two healthcare workers attending them. If they failed to arrange this and you were injured as a result, you may be able to claim.
In some cases, you could be entitled to claim through the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority (CICA). In order to do this, the crime would need to be reported to the police. Read our guide on criminal injury claims for more information, or speak with a member of our team to find out more about NHS injury at work compensation.
How To Prove The NHS Is Responsible For Your Injury
Evidence can be crucial to receiving NHS injury at work compensation, as it is with any personal injury claim. The onus is on you as the claimant to prove that negligence led to your injury.
Therefore, evidence that could help you receive compensation includes:
- CCTV footage
- Accident report documents
- Medical scans and notes of your injury
- Photographic evidence of your injury and the scene of the accident
- A list of treatments that have been provided for your injury
A personal injury solicitor could help you collect the evidence you need to support your claim. Speak with a member of our team for more information.
NHS Staff Compensation Payouts – What Are The Claim Time Limits?
The personal injury claims time limit applies to all accident at work claims, including those made by those who work for the NHS. A compensation claim generally has to be started within three years of sustaining injuries. This time limit is set out by the Limitation Act 1980, which also sets out the exceptions.
In some cases, it may be possible to make a claim outside of this time limit. For example, the workplace accident claim time limit does not come into effect until the claimant turns eighteen. If you are injured at work while under the age of eighteen, a litigation friend can start your claim for you. Otherwise, you will have to wait until the time limit begins on your eighteenth birthday.
Similarly, for those who lack the mental capacity to claim for themselves, the time limit is frozen indefinitely. In these cases, the time limit won’t reinstate unless the claimant regains the needed capacity. Otherwise, their claim can be made by a litigation friend.
To learn more about injuries to NHS staff, compensation payouts, and the accident at work claims process, contact our team today. A member of our team can evaluate your claim for free, and may be able to connect you with a solicitor from our panel.
Injury At Work Compensation – NHS Injury At Work Claim Calculator
You may be wondering, ‘is it possible to claim for an injury at work against the NHS, and if so, how much could I receive?’. Compensation will depend on various elements, such as how severe your injury is and how long your recovery time is. The overall impact on your quality of life may also be taken into consideration.
With that in mind, we have put together a table that lists a variety of injuries that could arise from a work accident. These figures are taken from the 2022 update of the Judicial College Guidelines, which calculates brackets using previous court payouts. Remember that these are not guaranteed, but they can give you a rough idea of how much you may receive.
| Injury Type | Severity | Compensation Amount | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder | Moderately Severe | £23,150 to £59,860 | In this bracket, significant disabilities for the foreseeable future will result in the injured person struggling to cope with work, life and education. However, better prognosis will be achieved because of professional help that will lead to some recovery. |
| Chest | Traumatic | £65,740 to £100,670 | This bracket is for a traumatic injury to lung(s), chest and/or heart leading to functional impairment, physical disability and permanent damage. |
| Eye | Minor | £3,950 to £8,730 | Cases in this bracket involve minor injuries caused by being exposed to fumes such as smoke as well as being struck in the eye. |
| Neck | Moderate | £13,740 to £24,990 | Cases in this bracket include severe disc lesions causing cervical spondylosis and soft tissue injuries that cause serious movement limitation. |
| Back | Minor | £12,510 to £27,760 | This bracket includes less serious disc prolapses, soft tissue injuries, strains and sprains where a full recovery or one that brings the injury to nuisance level only without surgery takes place within two to five years. |
| Shoulder | Serious | £12,770 to £19,200 | Cases in this bracket include shoulder dislocations and shoulder and neck pain caused by damage to the lower part of the brachial plexus. |
| Injuries To The Pelvis And Hip | Moderate | £12,590 to £26,590 | This bracket can involve procedures like a hip replacement being needed. |
| Arm | Simple | £6,610 to £19,200 | Cases in this bracket include simple forearm fractures. |
| Wrist | Loss | £47,620 to £59,860 | Injuries in this bracket causes complete loss of function to your wrist. |
| Fingers | Severe | Up to £36,740 | This bracket is for severe finger fractures that can cause partial amputations resulting in grip impairment, disturbed sensation and deformity. |
We should also point out that these figures represent general damages only. General damages are one of the two heads of a personal injury claim settlement. This head relates to your physical and mental suffering, as well as any loss of amenity.
Special damages is the second head, and this relates to extra costs and losses as a result of the accident. This could include any lack of income during recuperation, as well as travel costs, medication charges and any mobility equipment payments.
For information on when making a claim against the NHS could be justified following an injury at work, get in touch with our advisors for free legal advice.
Can I Use No Win No Fee Solicitors For An Injury At Work In The NHS?
If you are concerned about the cost of hiring a solicitor that requires upfront payment, a No Win No Fee solicitor could be more beneficial for you. A No Win No Fee solicitor could offer you a Conditional Fee Agreement, which is a type of No Win No Fee arrangement. This typically means:
- You will not pay an upfront fee to hire your solicitor
- You will not make ongoing payments for their work
- You will only pay them a success fee if they help you successfully claim compensation
- Your payment will come out of your award – what they can take is capped by law.
- You will not have to pay them if your claim is unsuccessful.
To find out if you are eligible to make a claim following an NHS injury at work, call our advisors now for a free no-obligation consultation.
You can get in touch by:
- Calling us at 0800 408 7825
- Using the information on our contact us page
- Using the live chat
Get Help With Claims Against The NHS
To learn more about making a claim for compensation, please use the links below.
If you’ve broken a bone, read this NHS guidance for medical advice.
The HSE also provides health and safety statistics for Great Britain, which you can find on their website.
Do you want to learn how to report an incident at work? If so, please refer to this guidance.
If you’ve suffered a knee injury at work, read the guidance on our website to see if you can claim.
Read this guide to see if you can claim for an eye injury at work.
You may be asking, “Do I get paid if I get injured at work?” If so, view our guide to learn more.
Contact us today using the details above to learn more about claiming NHS injury at work compensation.
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