As the Coronavirus restrictions begin to ease, many Oldham residents are again exposing themselves to the risk of an accident.
Many people have jobs which they cannot do from home and are still travelling to work or working on construction sites or commercial premises.
If you have sustained an injury from an accident that wasn’t your fault, visiting your GP and getting their advice is important right from the start. You may consider instructing solicitors to deal with a claim but they will require the following details from you:
- Date the accident happened
- Date you first asked for medical advice
- Details about how your injury has been treated
- Steps your GP has taken to treat your injury
Many GP surgeries have been carrying out telephone appointments and people have been afraid of visiting hospital accident and emergency departments due to possibly contracting coronavirus. Even outpatient hospital appointments have either been postponed or health professionals have conducted appointments remotely.
In normal times this usually wouldn’t be a problem as in serious injury cases immediate hospital treatment would be required. However, for less severe injuries such as a minor fracture or sprain people might be choosing to ignore it, or dealing with the injury themselves. The problem comes when you think you might have a claim.
Claiming for a Personal Injury
When you instruct a legal team you are required to provide as much detail as possible, your adviser would expect you to describe the extent of your injuries. They would also be looking to see what steps you took to alleviate your losses by seeking out medical advice at the earliest time possible.
The reason for this is that the opposing party could argue that they cannot be responsible for your injuries and may not compensate you fully because you didn’t seek medical advice at the earliest possible opportunity and therefore could have aggravated your injuries.
Legal Advice from a Personal Injury Solicitor
Michael Talbot, Head of Personal Injury at Pearson Solicitors and Financial Advisers has this advice, “Make sure you call your GP surgery immediately after your accident explaining what has happened and request an appointment as soon as possible. This could be an in person appointment or video telephone call. Then make sure you keep a diary and log every step you have taken since the accident as this will be really valuable to the legal team to take your case forward.
When visiting your GP, it is important to ensure that the accident circumstances causing the injury are a true reflection of what actually happened because if it isn’t this could cause problems further down the line.
“Even if you think your injury is bearable it is best to keep your GP updated. By doing this there will be a full record of your injury right from the start, to when it is eventually healed.”
If residents need further advice about an accident or how to make a personal injury claim they can call our Personal Injury team on 0161 785 3500 or email enquiries@pearsonlegal.co.uk