The limits that mean most patients must undergo short appointment times of less than 10 minutes are understood to be putting patients at risk and worrying doctors.
As lawyers who specialise in medical negligence, the risks are obvious to us, and they’re obvious to doctors as well. It can be easy for things to be missed when GPs are under pressure to wrap up their time with patients too early, meaning they don’t have the proper chance to ensure for a correct diagnosis and course of treatment.
If you, as a patient, end up suffering as a result of short appointment times, what can you do about it?
Concerns over short appointment times
There are obvious concerns with regards to short appointment times. It may lead to GPs failing to accurately diagnose and treat a problem, which can lead to further complications and more resources wasted.
It may be that several appointments take place prior to an accurate diagnosis being made, when it could have taken place in a longer initial appointment.
If certain signs and symptoms are missed, patients are at risk of developing complications that could be serious. This all leaves patients at risk of suffering from medical negligence, which is something that should always be a focus in terms of trying to avoid.
What can you do about problems that arise?
If you have suffered complications or problems that have arisen as a direct result of short appointment times, you may be entitled to make a claim for medical negligence compensation.
If a problem hasn’t been diagnosed quickly enough, or the correct course of treatment hasn’t been put in place, you may be eligible for a legal case. We appreciate that the doctors are being put under pressure and further undue stress due to restrictions on appointment times, but that doesn’t mean patients have to suffer. Where patients suffer because of an avoidable issue, they should be entitled to claim for the impact caused.
And we can’t stress enough how important this is. Lives can be turned upside down when things are missed, and we urge the government to ensure that our NHS is fully equipped and properly resourced to cope with demand.
We can represent victims of medical negligence on a No Win, No Fee basis.
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