You can barely go a day at the moment without there being a story in the news about NHS services under strain. Today it’s a BBC report showing a 41% rise in A&E-related clinical negligence claims over the past five years.
It’s difficult enough when one area of the health service is stretched, but when emergency departments across the country are facing the same pressures at once, the risk to patients is significant:
- Patients spending hours, sometimes days, on trolleys or in corridors waiting for a bed.
- Basic tests and scans not being carried out because departments are too busy to keep up with demand.
- Early warning signs of serious deterioration being missed in the chaos of an overstretched shift.
- Diagnoses being rushed, or missed altogether, because staff simply don’t have the time each patient needs.
The list goes on, and people are being seriously harmed – in some cases losing their lives as a result.
The numbers behind the headline
According to the BBC’s analysis of NHS Resolution data, there were more than 1,600 A&E-related clinical negligence claims in England in 2025-26, up from around 1,150 five years ago. A&E remains the biggest area for clinical negligence claims by volume, with claims valued at over £550 million in the last year alone.
Source: NHS Resolution data, analysed by BBC News (September 2026).
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine has linked the rise in claims directly to rising pressure and long delays which are now common in emergency departments, with one in ten patients over the last two years waiting more than 12 hours to be treated or discharged.
The stories behind these figures are heartbreaking. The BBC’s report features a young man who attended A&E with headaches and dizziness, following treatment for a brain tumour, but was sent home without a brain scan. Days later he suffered a cardiac arrest caused by fluid building up on his brain, and he has been left with severe, life-changing injuries. The hospital trust involved has since accepted it breached its duty of care by not carrying out the scan that would, more likely than not, have enabled timely intervention and treatment.
Cases like this are a stark reminder that behind every statistic is a family whose life has been turned upside down – not because of some rare or unavoidable complication, but because often basic checks weren’t carried out.
What this means if you’ve been affected
We know that NHS staff are working under enormous pressure, often doing their best in very difficult circumstances. Mistakes are, sadly, more likely when a service is stretched this thin – but that doesn’t make the harm caused any less serious, and it doesn’t take away a patient’s right to answers and, where appropriate, compensation.
If you or a loved one has suffered because of a delay, a missed test, or a misdiagnosis in A&E, you may be entitled to compensation. Our sympathetic team of specialist clinical negligence solicitors can talk you through what happened, explain your options clearly, and advise you on the best course of action.
Our clinical negligence solicitors have supported hundreds of families through moments like this – with care, clarity, and no judgement of the NHS staff involved. If you’d like to understand your options, get in touch today. Email hello@hevans.com or call 01633 244233.
