Our client suffered a traumatic incident at work in which she suffered a personal injury. She was referred to Thompsons through her union UNISON so that we could seek work accident compensation on her behalf.

The background

The incident in which our client was injured occurred in May 2018 while she was working as a health care support worker with NHS Fife. Her job involves her looking after young people and adults with learning disabilities.

Our client is fully MAPPA (Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements) trained and has more than 16 years experience in the role.

On the date of the incident she had been caring for a service user with aggressive tendencies who was attempting to hit, pull, grab and scratch people around her. According to the service user's care plan, four members of staff were required in order to restrain her safely, however at the time of the incident there were only four staff available on shift, one of whom was dealing with another service user. Our client was the only member of the team who had full, up-to-date MAPPA training.

During attempts to calm the service user, she bit our client's right hand.

The consequences

Immediately, our client's hand began to swell. She was taken to hospital where she received a tetanus injection and was provided with antibiotics. However, she soon suffered symptoms of sepsis and was very unwell.

Our client has a pre-existing condition which affects her immune system and eventually she was hospitalised. She required an IV drip.

Our client later received an x-ray revealing that she had suffered tendon damage. She also began to feel depressed and traumatised, and she was referred for counselling.

We intimated a claim to our client's employer, but liability was denied.

The settlement

Thompsons personal injury lawyers in Scotland raised the claim in court and eventually the claim was settled for £10,000.

The bite injury claim settlement was agreed on 24 February 2021.