£300,000 payout given by firm behind NHS 111 service

Posted 26/04/2016

In the news today is the announcement that Care UK, the firm behind the NHS’ 111 service, has admitted liability for a Norfolk mother’s death, and has agreed to pay her son £300,000 in damages.

The story is covered here by the Eastern Daily Press

Sandra Patton (pictured) is Head of Medical Injury at Ashtons and represented the family.  She says: “The death of a young mother is always tragic, but in these circumstances it is truly shocking. The death was wholly preventable with simple treatment. Sadly, a system failure meant that the simple treatment wasn’t provided and the opportunity to reverse the effects of the infection was lost.”

She adds: “The family did everything they should, they contacted the out-of-hours service when they became concerned about her deterioration, but were reassured over the telephone that nothing was seriously wrong. I sincerely hope that such an error won’t happen again but, given the pressures on the NHS and the government’s continual drive to contract NHS services to various private providers, it is difficult to be optimistic.”