Firstly, it is necessary for you to establish that there has been a breach of duty of care in the provision of medical treatment.  The legal criteria in relation to breach of duty of care was established some years ago in the Bolam case. However, it is a requirement that not only the issue to establishing breach of duty of care, but that you must also establish causation. 

What causation basically means is that it has to be proved by you that the breach of duty of care has resulted in damage (injury) but would not have occurred had it not been for the breach of duty of care.

The evidential standard in relation to causation is on the balance of probabilities - certainty or even near certainty is not required

Once all the relevant medical records have been obtained indexed and paginated, they will be reviewed in detail, following which a detailed chronology of events will then be prepared setting out, where appropriate, relevant entries in the medical records. You will be asked to comment on the chronology/medical records.

A detailed letter of instruction will thereafter be prepared and sent to an appropriate medical expert to provide an opinion on liability/causation, i.e. to assess the standard of care you received at the material time and its consequences, whether temporary or enduring.

It may be necessary to instruct more than one expert in your case if opinions are required from more than one area of medical expertise. If this is the case we will let you know in due course and we will inform you which experts are to be instructed.

Once medical reports on liability/causation are available, we will consider them in detail and thereafter review them with you. We will then be  in a better position to advise you as to the prospects of success of your claim.

There are different types of funding that can be offered and are as follows:

• Legal Aid Public Funding  - From April 2013, public funding will only be available to individuals who fulfil very specific criteria set down by the Legal Services Commission (the government body who deal with legal aid).  You will only get Legal Aid if your case relates to the representation of a child in exceptional circumstances.  If you are supported by a Legal Aid Certificate, our fees are paid at a level of remuneration set by the Government.  We will be paid by the Legal Services Commission by reference to the amount of time spent on the matter.  There are a number of factors which can affect whether your costs will be paid by the Legal Services Commission or not and the person in charge of your case will fully advise you in this respect.  At this stage you should be aware that if you lose your case it is possible that you may still be ordered by the Court to contribute towards your opponents costs, even though your own costs are covered by Legal Aid.  Furthermore, there is a possibility that even if you win your case, your opponent may not be ordered to pay the full amount of your costs and may not be capable of paying what they have been ordered to pay.
• Before the Event Legal Expenses Insurance - this insurance can usually be found on your buildings and contents insurance and premium bank accounts.
• No Win No Fee Agreement - Under such agreement, if you are unsuccessful in your claim we shall waive our fees relating to work done during the currency of the agreement.  If however your claim is successful we shall charge a success fee based upon a percentage of our basic fees (this cannot be more than 100% of the basic charges in total) but it is limited to 25% of the total amount of any:

• Private Fee - It is always open to you to instruct us to act for you on a private fee-paying basis.  This will mean that you will be responsible for our fees as and when they are incurred regardless of the outcome of your case.  Legal costs are very often one of the most significant issues in claims of this type.  Because of the need to pay disbursements (that is sums paid to others in the preparation of your case such as medical experts and barristers) when they arise, legal fees do mount up very quickly.

Your funding eligibility will be assessed at your initial appointment.

Throughout the duration of your claim we will keep you updated every step of the way. However, your instructions are important and therefore you may have to have examinations by experts and attend meetings with those experts and a Barrister who specialises in medical negligence.

The meetings can be held at locations that are convenient to you.