GP Negligence Claims — Compensation
Last reviewed: June 2026 · EA Personal Injury Solicitors
GPs are often the first point of contact for serious conditions. Failure to diagnose, refer or treat appropriately can cause patients to suffer avoidable harm. EA Personal Injury Solicitors handles GP negligence claims on a no win, no fee basis — if the claim succeeds, a success fee may be deducted from your compensation.
TL;DR — Quick Summary
Key Points
- GPs owe patients a duty of care — failure to diagnose or refer causing harm can be actionable
- Delayed cancer diagnosis is the most common type of GP negligence claim
- Causation — showing earlier treatment would have made a difference — must be established
- Three-year limitation period from date of negligent treatment or date of knowledge
- No win, no fee — if the claim succeeds, a success fee may be deducted from your compensation
The GP's Role and Duty of Care
General practitioners are the gateway to the wider NHS. Their decisions about investigation, diagnosis, treatment and referral can be critical. A GP who fails to take a presenting condition seriously, does not refer when a responsible GP would have done so, or misses clinical signs of a serious disease may be guilty of negligence — provided the failure falls below the standard of the reasonably competent GP and caused avoidable harm.
The standard applied is that of the ordinary competent general practitioner, not a specialist. GPs are not expected to possess specialist knowledge, but they are expected to recognise when a specialist referral is appropriate and to act on significant clinical findings.
Common GP Negligence Scenarios
- Failure to refer for investigation — persistent symptoms of possible cancer (weight loss, rectal bleeding, haemoptysis, a lump) dismissed without investigation or referral under the two-week wait pathway
- Failure to diagnose serious infection — meningitis, sepsis or other serious infections dismissed as viral illness, causing avoidable deterioration or death
- Failure to diagnose appendicitis or other surgical emergency — sending a patient home when urgent surgical referral was indicated
- Prescription errors — prescribing contraindicated drugs, missing dangerous interactions, prescribing the wrong dose
- Failure to act on abnormal test results — blood tests, X-rays or other investigations showing serious pathology that was not followed up
- Failure to diagnose deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism
- Failure to refer a suspected fracture for X-ray
- Mental health — failure to assess and manage suicide risk
Causation in GP Negligence Claims
Even where a GP's failure to diagnose or refer is established, the claimant must also show that the failure caused harm they would not have suffered had proper care been provided. In delayed diagnosis cases — particularly cancer cases — this typically requires expert evidence showing that at the time of the negligent consultation, the disease was at a stage where treatment would have been significantly more effective, and that the delay led to a materially worse outcome (for example, a curable cancer becoming incurable, or a treatable infection causing permanent organ damage).
Causation in GP negligence cases can be legally and medically complex. We work with leading expert witnesses to build the strongest possible case for causation.
No Win, No Fee GP Negligence Claims
We act under a Conditional Fee Agreement. If the claim fails, you pay nothing. If the claim succeeds, a success fee may be deducted from your compensation.