For the purpose of pursing a claim it is
essential that all of the relevant clinical
records are obtained.
In most cases these
include not only the hospital records but
also the general practitioner records. You
would be asked to sign authorities to have
these records released.
Once your solicitor has them, they have
to be sorted into order and each of the
pages has to be numbered. The reason for
this is because when the clinical expert
comes to go through the records, he may well
make some reference to the records in his
report.
It is absolutely essential in this kind
of case for your solicitor to obtain a
report from an appropriate clinical expert.
Sometimes they need to instruct more than
one expert.
They will send the experts the clinical
records which they have obtained and the
expert will then go through them.
Sometimes the expert can provide an
opinion without actually seeing you but most
times you will need to attend for an
examination.
If you are going to sue the local health
trust then it is not possible for your
solicitor to use an expert who is also
employed by that trust.
This sometimes unfortunately means that
considerable travelling distances are
involved for you to see the expert your
solicitor has access to records that will
locate the nearest one to you.
Clinical Negligence is a highly
specialised field. In nearly every case your
solicitor would use a Barrister who
specialises in clinical negligence cases.
It may be that the Barrister will wish to
have a conference with you and the
conference would almost certainly also be
attended by the clinical expert(s).
Whilst this again will add to your
personal inconvenience, it is most important
that your claim is dealt with properly.
At the initial interview with you your
solicitor may take some notes in regard to
the basic history.
These may form the basis for making an
initial decision as to whether he or she
thinks you have the basis for a claim.
In more complex cases they may prepare a
case plan.
This will then set out a rough timetable
for various steps to be taken and will
enable you to monitor the claim.
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