Tackling the clinical negligence problem and welcoming our newest team member 👋

This month we’d like to extend a warm welcome to Maria Farrell, the newest member of the Optimal team! 

Maria is a Specialist Clinical Negligence and Serious Injury Solicitor with over 25 years’ experience supporting individuals and families navigating life-changing outcomes. You’ll get to know her better in this edition of Optimal Insights, from her deep specialism in clinical negligence to her dedication to client care. 

Before that, though, here’s why it was so important for us to strengthen our existing specialism in this area:

• Optimal has received 609 clinical negligence enquiries so far this year, compared with 459 during the same period last year – a 33% increase 
• Clinical negligence now accounts for 22% of all enquiries received, representing nearly one in four potential clients seeking answers

No case theme is more important than another. However, birthing and maternity-related injuries stand out for the number of repeated incidents that occur and the level of extreme tragedy that comes with them. When maternity care goes wrong, families are often left facing more than just the physical injury. They are left with trauma, unanswered questions, and the feeling that they were not properly heard when it mattered most…

• NHS Resolution says obstetric claims made up 57% of the total estimated value of new claims reported in 2023/24
• Its 2026 maternity scheme evaluation says maternity accounted for 51% of the total clinical negligence cost of harm in 2024/25

It’s important to recognise that, in order for individuals to reach out to us, trust must have already been broken by medical practitioners at potentially the most critical time of their lives. It’s our job to provide a level of client care that puts trust front and centre, and helps clients regain a degree of control over a future that has been taken away from them. 

If you have a clinical issue that you think should have been handled differently and need an experienced professional to listen to you, Optimal is here to help.

Legal briefing 

Grieving families call for action to improve maternity care in Sussex

The maternity unit at the Princess Royal Hospital in Haywards Heath has been rated as “requiring improvement” for more than three years after repeated inspections by the regulator, the Care Quality Commission. A lack of improvements to the maternity units under the University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust is only compounding the grief further for parents who have lost children and felt that sufficient care wasn’t provided. 

Earlier this year, senior midwife Donna Ockenden led an independent review into maternity services at the trust. The trust agrees there is “much more to do” to provide the safe, compassionate, and high-quality care every family deserves.

Senior family judge says cohabitation reforms could generate 10,000 extra cases a year

Following the conclusion of the cohabitation consultation, family lawyers and national committee members are responding with compelling cases for reform. Meanwhile, Edward Hess, deputy national lead judge of the Financial Remedies Court, claims that the proposed changes would mean 27% more couples would be eligible to make financial remedies claims. 

The proposals include enabling cohabiting partners to ask the courts to make orders over homes, pensions, property, and other assets. Read more here.

Report finds “too many” road traffic accident victims are unaware of compensation rights

The Victims’ Code 2006 states that victims of road traffic accidents have the right to be provided with information about compensation, including how to claim. However, a report by the Victims’ Commissioner reveals that “too many victims” are not told about potential compensation and the need to instruct a solicitor to obtain it following a serious injury or death. Many of those victims who did try to claim spoke of “several difficulties they faced navigating the compensation process”. 

At Optimal, our specialist serious injury and road traffic accident solicitors are dedicated to supporting victims through distressing circumstances, ensuring they receive the appropriate medical rehabilitation and compensation that enables them to move forward with their lives. Find out more about how we can help here.

The Optimal pulse

• Our Head of Personal Injury, Mark Thomason, joined Rodney Peyton, MD, OBE to discuss the evolving world of clinical negligence, personal injury, legal leadership, and the future of claimant practice. Explore the importance of balancing client care with commercial awareness and more – head to the LinkedIn live video here.
• Last month we shared the details of our jam-packed summer party, which had everything from pizza to drum circles. Now we have the video to show how all the magic unfolded! Watch it here – but beware, this video will make you seriously hungry…
• We’ve announced more £50 voucher winners from the Optimal Fitness and Wellbeing Group over summer! It’s been great to see the team still contributing and participating in our online wellbeing community during what is a busy time for holidays. Check out our latest video to reveal the winners, as well as some tense coin-flipping action.

Employee of the month

Please join us in congratulating August’s employee of the month, Jakub Wisniewski!

Here’s what the team had to say about Jakub…

“Jakub consistently performs at a high level, even when his typical day gets broken up with ad hoc tasks. He came up with great workflow ideas for the personal injury department. He also helped with training, assisted colleagues with their system issues, and helped IT support. Jakub is always on hand to help deal with any training or development queries. Nothing is too much trouble.”

Our other nominees had some great comments too. Thanks all for everything you do, you are greatly appreciated!

• Katarzyna Gryszun – For being an absolute legend and dealing with many translation requests. Always ready to help and nothing is ever too much for her.
• Walter Coupe – Another fantastic month dealing with some tricky cases.
• Ricky Jones – Always calm and willing to help, no matter how daft the question.
• Ryszarda Kozikowska Dub – Provides great feedback and ideas to improve our workflows or templates.
• Weronika Bojarska – Eager to help. Weronika has dealt with a couple of urgent translations for colleagues this month.

Work anniversaries

August is a big month for work anniversaries at Optimal 🙌

Congratulations to three integral and long-standing members of the team celebrating their big milestones and the game-changing impact they’ve made over the years!

🎉 Dagmara Maluszke – 9 years

🎉 Jacek Zawieracz – 11 years

Thanks for everything you do for the team. Optimal wouldn’t be the same without you 🤗

Blog – Putting Patients First: Exploring The Missed Opportunities Behind Clinical Negligence

Clinical negligence is rarely about one isolated mistake. In many cases, it is a series of missed opportunities: a symptom not acted on, a deterioration not escalated, a handover not completed properly, or a family’s concerns not fully heard. As Maria Farrell joins Optimal Solicitors with experience in both clinical negligence and serious injury claims, she explores how these issues can affect patients and families – and why clear answers, early support, and learning from harm matter. 

Read the full article here.

Introducing… Maria Farrell

Maria Farrell is a senior solicitor with 25 years’ experience across clinical negligence and serious injury claims. Her unwavering commitment to client care strongly aligns with Optimal’s core values, and her dedication to the field has earned her accreditations on The Law Society panel for clinical negligence and as a Senior Litigator for the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers. 

Supporting individuals and families after difficult, often life-changing outcomes comes naturally to Maria. With family in the medical profession and the greatest admiration for the NHS, she particularly connects with the technicalities of clinical negligence law. Above all, she is driven by assisting people who are in distress, need answers, and have nowhere else to turn after being let down by a diagnosis or clinical treatment.

Maria’s early career began in family law, where her natural empathy for helping people through difficult situations shone. Here she practised the value of simply listening to a client in their hour of need, giving them reassurance and clarity where they previously had none, before providing dedicated legal assistance to help them move forward. Since then, her genuine sincerity and advocacy for the human side of the law have earned her multiple awards in client care.

When she’s not supporting clients, Maria enjoys getting lost in art galleries with her husband – especially in the post-impressionist section. She also has a keen eye for good food and quality restaurants, so the team knows who to ask for a trusted recommendation!

“Exactly the support I needed”

When individuals reach out to Optimal, it’s often because they have nowhere to turn following an injury or family matter. That’s why the support we provide from that first touchpoint is entirely focused on the person – learning their circumstances, listening intently, and guiding them with advice and clarity on next steps. 

That approach continues as clients are assigned to their solicitor, who ensures they are supported and informed at every stage of the process. We appreciate this anonymous client for taking the time to recognise this in their feedback, and thanks go to ReviewSolicitors for recognising us in their recent post 🙌

Better listening is the foundation of positive change

Systemic, repeated failures that are not learned from put current and future patients at risk of clinical negligence. This is often characterised by a trail of missed opportunities to really listen to patients. 

Better listening and spotting issues early can make a huge difference in preventing avoidable injuries or life-changing outcomes for patients. But when the worst happens, Optimal is here to provide clarity where there was confusion and empathetically manage expectations to help you find a path forward.

To find out more about how we can support you, call our team today on 0161 250 7771 or complete our online contact form.