Stuart Andrews

The personal injury team at Bell Lax have successfully recovered compensation for a 66-year-old lady who sustained multiple severe injuries after the stairlift she was using malfunctioned and tilted causing her to be thrown out of the seat. Commonly, when...

In the News: NHS to pay nearly £30 million due to negligence that left a baby with catastrophic life changing injuries The family of a baby girl who suffered catastrophic brain injuries shortly after her birth has recently been awarded £29.3...

Know when something is not right - a change in your bladder habit could be a sign of something serious. In the United Kingdom, there are around 10,000 new bladder cancer cases diagnosed every year. Bladder cancer is the 11th most common cancer accounting...

Serious concerns regarding maternity services at Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust BBC's Panorama investigated the maternity services of Gloucestershire Hospitals NHS Trust after the tragic deaths of two babies and a mother between...

This week saw a tragic news report about the death of a mother of two from uterine leiomyosarcoma. She had reported symptoms of extreme pain and heavy prolonged periods to her GP for approximately 5 years prior to the cancer diagnosis. Receiving a...

A routine scan at 36 weeks during pregnancy can reduce the number of unexpected breech births Currently, pregnant women in England undergo routine scans at 12 and 20 weeks, with no routine scan offered in the third (final) trimester....

Each year, charity group, Headway, run various campaigns to raise awareness of acquired brain injuries, and the impact such injuries can have on sufferers and their loved ones. According to Headway, hospital admissions in England due to brain injuries ...

Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust has been fined £800,000 over baby's death Baby Wynter Andrews died at Queen's Medical Centre 23 minutes after her birth due to hypoxic ischaemic...

One patient dies every 23 minutes due to delays in Accident and Emergency Departments across England The Royal College of Emergency Medicine has reported that one patient is dying every 23 minutes in England due to delays. This...

It was reported on the 20 March 2023 that a 52-year-old man was left in a critical condition at Ocean Beach Amusement Park in South Shields after a workplace accident that left him with serious head injuries. The incident has been reported to the HSE...

Was a mother given 'conflicting' advice by the NHS before dying in childbirth? Lucy, a 32-year-old mum-of-two sadly passed away at Royal Hampshire County Hospital after suffering complications during the...

Concerns for patient safety grow as NHS England data shows that the average ambulance response times for category 1 - 3 emergencies in October 2022 were the highest since categories were introduced in 2017. Some patients who require emergency...

April is Limb Loss Awareness Month. This is an event run by various charities to raise awareness about living with limb loss and supporting amputees in a community setting by ensuring that they have the access to the correct support system....

In 2019, the biggest maternity scandal in Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust’s history came to light. Hundreds of families came forward, telling their stories of how the Trust had failed them and their babies. This led to an inquiry into 1,592...

It was recently reported that the NHS is facing a mass exodus of GPs in England. Official data was quoted showing that 23% of family doctors are 55 years or over and will be looking to retire within the next few years, with the average retirement age being...

Michel Roccati made international news for being the first person, with a completely severed spinal cord, to regain the ability to walk. This was made possible by ground-breaking advancements in medical technology which will hopefully lead the way in...

This week the BBC reported that more than 13,000 patients a year are having NHS funding for their palliative care withdrawn after living longer than expected. In addition, other patients were having their continuing healthcare support replaced with more...

Cervical Screening Awareness Week runs from 21 to 28 January 2022 and aims to raise awareness and highlight the importance of regular cervical screening for women. Cervical screening (a smear test) is an effective way of preventing cervical cancer....

Across the country men will be growing their beards to raise awareness and support vital research and lifesaving work to help prevent bowel cancer. More than 42,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer in the United Kingdom every year, and more than...

During the Covid 19 pandemic, we have seen a rise in people abandoning their cars and public transport in favour of bicycles as their preferred mode of transport to work. Last year, the Government encouraged this by offering a £2 billion package to...

A Midlands neurosurgeon has been prevented from performing complex surgery following negligent treatment. Mr Hussein El-Maghraby is a consultant neurosurgeon at University Hospitals Coventry & Warwickshire NHS Trust and the private Woodland Hospital in...

NHS Trusts fill nurse vacancies with non-nurses NHS Trusts in England are recruiting unqualified people to fill the growing number of nursing vacancies within the NHS. The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has...

Cervical Screening Awareness Week runs from 14 June 2021 to 20 June 2021 and aims to raise awareness and highlight the importance of regular cervical screening for women. Did you know? In the United Kingdom,...

Walsall Manor Hospital has been told to make 'significant improvements' to its medical services within three months following an inspection by the Care Quality Commission in March 2021. An inspection was carried out due to concerns regarding the...

Pressure ulcers, also known as bedsores and pressure sores, can be debilitating, painful and potentially fatal if left untreated. However, with appropriate nursing care pressure ulcers can be prevented most of the time. Whilst there are certain...

In the first criminal prosecution of its kind, University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust was recently prosecuted and found to be in breach of the Duty of Candour for failing to be open and transparent with a bereaved family. In this case, a patient died at...

The COVID-19 outbreak has had an enormous impact on core NHS services. In order to free up capacity to deal with the initial peak of the pandemic, the NHS shut down or significantly reduced many areas of non-COVID care from April 2020 onwards. This resulted...

Ronan Keating’s wife, Storm Keating, has recently undergone emergency spinal surgery at Cromwell Hospital after being diagnosed with cauda equina syndrome. On social media, Storm revealed how she had initially been rushed to hospital for a...

An investigation carried out by the BBC has revealed failures in the diagnosis of medical issues during ultrasound scans at private clinics. More than 200 studios in England offer private ultrasound scans, with hundreds of thousands being carried out...

The latest changes to the Civil Procedure Rules come into force on 1 October 2020. One of the most notable changes is an addition to Practice Direction 35 which relates to the Statement of Truth provided by experts and assessors in their expert reports. ...

I am indebted to Gordon Exall and his recent blog reviewing the Secret Barrister’s second book “Fake Law”. Gordon observes that the book looks at many of the misconceptions surrounding the legal system including the way in which the...

What is an Interim Payment? An interim payment is where part of a Claimant’s compensation or settlement is advanced to them earlier in the process, before final judgement or full and final settlement being reached. In ...

The basic principle for recovery of compensation in personal injury and medical negligence cases is to put the injured person back in the position they would have been in if the accident/negligence did not occur. For example, if the Claimant suffered a...

Most personal injury claims involve physical injuries such as soft tissue injuries, broken bones, scarring, head injuries and other obvious and visible injuries. But what about the injuries which we are unable to see? Provided medical evidence supports...

Personal Injury claims give rise to many novel and complex legal arguments. There is a common misconception that liability disputes in such claims are easily resolved and that prevailing theory has led over the years to increasingly restrictive fixed...

The Ogden Tables are prepared by the Government Actuary’s Department and assist personal injury lawyers and the Courts with calculating lump sum compensation for future loss and expenses. These actuarial tables include...

Vaginal mesh implants have been used for a number of years to treat stress urinary incontinence and pelvic organ prolapse. The surgical mesh usually made from synthetic polypropylene is inserted into the vagina or vaginal wall in order to support the...

The Covid-19 pandemic has given rise to a renewed appreciation of our NHS. I along with many of you, have been out on my balcony at 8pm every Thursday clapping for our carers with much gusto and gratitude. Indeed, I am very grateful for their hard work...

The Claimant was widowed following a tragic accident on a construction site . Her husband had been working for a scaffolding company contracted to erect scaffolding in order that a fragile roof could be replaced. Whilst working on the roof, the...

Even if you have been fortunate enough to have never been involved in a road traffic accident , the chances are you may know someone who has. Whilst most road traffic accident claims are often straightforward in terms of proving who is liable for the...

On 1 June 2020, the Ministry of Justice published the following statement: - “Due to the impact of Covid-19, the Bank of England reduced the base rate to 0.1% on 19 March 2020 as an emergency measure and made a decision on 7 May 2020 to maintain...

Bowel cancer is one of the most common types of cancer in the United Kingdom. Cancer Research UK estimate that around 40,000 individuals are diagnosed with bowel cancer every year. According to statistics published by Cancer Research, bowel cancer is...

We are happy to announce that on the 14 February 2020, we will be holding a raffle to raise funds for the Spinal Injuries Association (SIA). The SIA provide assistance to anyone who has been touched by spinal cord injury. Their ultimate goal is to enable...

Hundreds of families are coming forward after a report from an investigation for NHS Improvement was leaked outlining the failings of the maternity ward from 1979 until present at the Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital Trust. The said failings resulted in a...

During day four of the second Ashes Test at Lord’s, Australia’s leading batsman, Steve Smith, was hit in the neck by a bouncer from England’s Jofra Archer at a speed of over 90 mph. Smith was assisted off the ground by medical staff,...

This week is Action for Brain Injury Week which is an annual event organised by Headway, a leading charity supporting brain injured people. This year’s theme is to raise awareness of fatigue which is a common symptom for those with brain injury. It...

Last month, breast surgeon Ian Paterson was found guilty of 17 counts of wounding with intent after being accused of carrying out a series of unnecessary operations. Any surgery carries risks and so to have undergone the same when it was not required and to...

A few days ago it was reported that an 11 year old girl had tragically died from injuries sustained after an incident on the Splash Canyon water ride at Drayton Manor Park. Our thoughts and condolences go out to her family, friends and teachers at what...

Bell Lax adds to Personal Injury team Posted March 16, 2017 Stuart Andrews and Maria Rani have joined Bell Lax’s successful Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence Team. ...

On 20 th March 2017, the government finally adjusted the Discount Rate used for the calculation of future loss claims in personal injury and clinical negligence claims. This had remained at 2.5% for 16 years but has now been changed by the Lord...