Blog
Ockenden Report: inadequate investigations into deaths of mothers and babies and a culture of silence
Kirsty Allen
Kirsty has a varied caseload of medical negligence and personal injury matters. Her medical negligence work includes child cerebral palsy and adult brain injury cases, as well as fatal claims (including inquests), loss of sight cases, as well as failure to diagnose cancer and gynaecological claims.
Kirsty’s personal injury work focuses on serious injury and fatal claims, such as road traffic accidents, with experience of complex financial dependency claims involving family businesses. Kirsty spends time understanding her client’s businesses, and their finances in order to ensure that the value of the claim is maximised.
Kirsty recognises that for some clients, understanding what happened can be as important as financial compensation, so she tailors her approach to her client’s needs. Kirsty’s clients have praised her hard work and caring approach.
Kirsty is passionate about patient safety, and increasing understanding between doctors and lawyers around common mistakes leading to a medical negligence. Kirsty she has worked with the Faculty of Medical Leadership and Management over the last 5 years to achieve this.
After reading Law at the University of Sheffield, Kirsty completed the Legal Practice Course before qualifying in 2010. She joined Kingsley Napley in July 2012.
Client Feedback
The service we received from Kirsty and Terry was very efficient, reliable and trustworthy, and they were always willing to help. We are very happy with the outcome.
I would like to take this opportunity to say how pleased I am with the results of the claim and how impressed I was with all the hard work from Kirsty, Terry and all of the team.
Kirsty worked on our claim from when we first changed over and I am so thankful for all of the hard work, passion and dedication that she showed throughout. Even as a lay person, I can see she is amazing at her work. I feel so lucky to have had Kirsty work with us, and my child will also know just how much she fought for them to have the best outcome.
Kirsty worked tirelessly with me on my witness statements. I feel like she remembered more about my life than I do! That says a lot about how attentive she has always been and how she never missed a detail, which has helped in key points in our case.
Kirsty has been so understanding, kind and patient and has helped me through moments of difficulty when the claim felt overwhelming.
Thank you for spending the time with my child to show them around the Courts on the day of the Approval Hearing.
My case was a long process and at times it caused a great deal of anxiety and stress. Kirsty was with me every step of the way providing me with support and advice.
From the very beginning our expectations were carefully managed, about everything from the process to the timeline to the award; and this was hugely helpful to us as we had obviously never had to go through something like this before. At all times it was professional but caring, clear as to what was needed but understanding of the potential difficulties getting information, and supportive. I couldn’t have hoped for a better team to help me at a terrible time in our lives.
Recent Cases
- Failures of a London Trust which lead to 4 year delay in diagnosing prostate cancer. Settlement of over £300,000. This claim involved sensitive issues of life expectancy, and looking at the Claimant’s future care and accommodation needs.
- Cerebral Palsy claim arising from injuries shortly after birth settled in 2018 for in excess of £20m, made up of a lump sum payment and annual periodical payments. We secured an admission of negligence within months of being instructed, and an early interim payment.
- Cerebral Palsy claim arising from a brain injury at birth settled in 2018 for in the region of £28m, made up of a lump sum payment and annual periodical payments. The client transferred this case to Kingsley Napley from a regional firm.
- Gynaecological claim resulting from an NHS Trust’s failure to offer a Caesarean Section which left the Claimant with some incontinence. Settled for £130,000.
- Fatal claim for a widow following her husband’s death in a road traffic accident. We secured a settlement of £650,000.
- Fatal medical negligence claim for a widow and her daughter following her husband’s death from failures in treatment of an aortic aneurysm. Settlement of over £600,000.
- Blindness claim for a teacher resulting from a Trust’s failure to organise routine diabetic retinopathy appointments and timely laser treatment. The claim settled for £1m in 2018.
Professional societies and memberships
"Kingsley Napley very graciously took on the investigation of my clinical negligence claim even against a very uncertain outcome. Throughout the entire process, they did their utmost to ensure I understood every aspect of my claim, and they handled everything with respect and compassion. I felt grateful to be in the hands of such experienced, knowledgeable and understanding solicitors"
A client to Kirsty Allen