In the vast majority of cases where a patient develops bedsores, they could have been avoided with better care. So, if a bed-ridden patient had been turned regularly or had been given a special mattress, the bedsores would probably not have occurred.

Because of the nature of the problem, the fact that many of those who have bedsores are either in hospital, in a care home, or are at home but are dependent on others for their care, when bedsores do occur, they are often due to the negligence of others. Often they are caused by the medical staff responsible for a person's care, not taking the necessary preventative measures to stop the sores developing or they had failed to see that sores had developed and needed treating.

Claims can be made in situations where a person has developed bedsores due to the negligence of a hospital, a nursing home, a care home or carer. If the pressure sores came about due to the other person's negligence then the patient may be able to make a claim for damages to recover the cost of any care required in the future to treat the bedsores.

Compensation claims can be made for pain and suffering, loss of earnings, the loss of comfort/enjoyment of life, medical care costs, costs involved in adapting the home should that become necessary and other out of pocket expenses incurred while receiving medical treatment.

The value of any settlement will depend on the type of injury and how serious it was, whether the person concerned was able to make a full recovery and whether there were any long-lasting implications for their health and also whether the injury caused any other losses such as a loss of earnings.

For those considering taking legal action they should be aware that there are time limits in place. Legal action must be taken within three years of the date the patient, or indeed anybody, could reasonably have been expected to know that the injury had been caused through somebody else's fault. Before taking action against a hospital or care home it is instructive to look into ways of resolving the matter without recourse to legal action and if there is dialogue with the authority concerned, these avenues should be exhausted before looking into issuing a claim.

If that fails then the next step might be to make a formal complaint. That would be to the practice manager if the complaint is against a GP whereas it will be the complaints manager if concerning a hospital in general. A complaint could also be made using the NHS Complaints Procedure, while those wanting to take the matter further will turn their attention to the possibility of claiming medical negligence compensation through the courts.