Create professional bundles for clinical negligence claims, from pre-action protocol through to trial and inquest. Aligned with the Clinical Disputes Protocol.
Every stop on the journey produces a real document — template, form or hearing bundle
What documents do I need for a clinical negligence claim?
A clinical negligence claim requires complete medical records, independent expert reports on breach and causation, a treatment chronology, schedule of loss, and pre-action protocol correspondence. BundleCreator organises these into a structured bundle — which must be compliant with CPR PD 39A.
Each stop is a step in the journey. Larger ringed stops are hearings where you build a court bundle; smaller stops are forms, process steps, or court outcomes. Click any stop to see what it involves.
Stops:Bundle hearing — a court bundle is built hereProcess step — no bundle, just a procedural milestoneOptional step — dashed: not always applicable (e.g. only if needed or agreed)Form-filing endpoint — apply on a court form (warrant or enforcement)
Reading:Blog Insight — purple book icons link to a related article (opens in a new tab)
Timing:⚠ 14 daysstatutory — miss this and lose4 weeksrequired noticetyp. 8motypical wait
Laws:This journey summarises the procedure under Pre-Action Protocol for the Resolution of Clinical Disputes, Civil Procedure Rules Parts 7, 21, 25, 35, 36, 44 (esp. r.44.13–17 QOCS) and 52, Civil Procedure Rules PD 39A para 3.1 (trial bundle owned by claimant), Civil Procedure Rules r.26.9 — a clinical negligence claim is allocated to the multi-track unless both breach of duty and causation have been admitted (only then may it enter the intermediate track and its fixed recoverable costs, ceiling £100,000). The separate lower-damages clinical negligence FRC scheme (£1,501–£25,000) is not yet in force (as at June 2026), Limitation Act 1980 ss.11 (3 years personal injury), 14 (date of knowledge — critical in clin neg / latent injury / birth injury), 28 (limitation runs from 18th birthday for children — protects birth-injury claims), 33 (court's discretion to disapply), Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board [2015] UKSC 11 (consent / disclosure of material risks), McCulloch v Forth Valley Health Board [2023] UKSC 26 (Bolam applies to choice of treatment; Montgomery applies to disclosure of material risks), Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee [1957] 1 WLR 582 (standard of care), Bolitho v City and Hackney HA [1998] AC 232 (Bolam test logical-coherence overlay), Health and Social Care Act 2008 (Regulated Activities) Regulations 2014, reg.20 (statutory duty of candour), Damages Act 1996 (Ogden discount rate — currently +0.5% from 11 January 2025), Mental Capacity Act 2005 (litigation friend / protected party) and Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015 s.57 (fundamental dishonesty — QOCS disapplied). General information only — not legal advice.
Clinical negligence claims follow the Pre-Action Protocol for the Resolution of Clinical Disputes. Before proceedings, the claimant must: (1) obtain the medical records (the NHS has 40 days to provide them), (2) commission expert evidence on breach of duty and causation, and (3) send a detailed letter of claim to the defendant (usually an NHS Trust or private healthcare provider) setting out the facts, the alleged breaches, the injuries, and the financial losses. The defendant has 4 months to investigate and respond with a letter of response, admitting or denying liability.
Expert evidence is the backbone of clinical negligence claims. The claimant typically needs: a condition and prognosis expert (to describe the injuries), a breach of duty expert (to explain what a competent practitioner would have done), and a causation expert (to link the breach to the injury). Additional experts may be needed for quantum: care, accommodation, occupational therapy, employment, and forensic accountancy.
The Bolam test (Bolam v Friern Hospital [1957]) sets the standard of care: a doctor is not negligent if they acted in accordance with a responsible body of medical opinion. This is qualified by Bolitho v City and Hackney HA [1998]: the court can reject a body of opinion if it is not logically defensible. Causation must be proved on the balance of probabilities — the 'but for' test, qualified by material contribution in some cases.
QOCS (Qualified One-Way Costs Shifting) applies to clinical negligence claims — the claimant is generally protected from paying the defendant's costs if they lose, unless the claim is struck out as disclosing no reasonable grounds or the claimant is found to be fundamentally dishonest.
Settlement is common: Part 36 offers carry significant costs consequences, and round-table meetings or mediations often resolve cases before trial.
Important: This journey map shows the typical stages of the relevant court or tribunal proceedings. It is general information, not legal advice. Every case is different. For advice about your specific situation, consult a solicitor or instruct a barrister directly.
The law, court fees and time limits can change. We work hard to keep this map accurate, but it may contain errors or become out of date, so please check anything important against the official source — for example legislation.gov.uk or GOV.UK. To the fullest extent permitted by law, Steleo Publishing Limited does not accept liability for any loss arising from reliance on this map. Each stop represents a stage where a separate bundle may be required; BundleCreator handles the formatting — it does not replace professional legal advice.
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A clinical negligence bundle typically includes medical records, expert reports on breach of duty and causation under the Bolam/Bolitho test, witness statements, a treatment chronology, and quantum evidence. BundleCreator is online court bundle software that organises these into clearly indexed sections under CPR Part 35.
Last reviewed: 25 April 2026 by Stevie Hayes
Medical Negligence Court Bundle UK: In Brief
A clinical negligence claim bundle is filed at the County Court or High Court (King's Bench Division) for damages arising from medical treatment that fell below the standard of a reasonably competent practitioner. Proceedings run under CPR Part 16 and the Pre-Action Protocol for the Resolution of Clinical Disputes. The bundle includes the medical records, expert reports on breach and causation, witness statements, and a Schedule of Loss.
Key rules
CPR Part 16 (statements of case), Part 35 (experts), Part 41 (Periodical Payments), Pre-Action Protocol for the Resolution of Clinical Disputes
Time limits
3 years from date of knowledge under the Limitation Act 1980 s.11; for minors, time runs from the 18th birthday (s.28); for persons lacking capacity, time does not run while incapacity continues (s.28); court discretion to disapply under s.33
Expert evidence
Breach-of-duty and causation experts (typically separate); both must follow CPR Part 35 and the Civil Justice Council expert witness guidance
Jurisdiction
County Court (claims under £50,000), High Court King's Bench Division (above £50,000 or complex cases)
Bundle size
Clinical negligence bundles routinely run long — medical records, imaging, expert reports; up to 1,000 pages supported
NHS Resolution receives over 12,600 clinical negligence claims annually in England.
Source: NHS Resolution Annual Report, 2024
3 years
Clinical negligence limitation
Claims in respect of personal injury caused by negligence must generally be brought within three years of the date of the act or date of knowledge.
Source: Limitation Act 1980, section 11
Pre-Action Protocol
Clinical Disputes Protocol
The Pre-Action Protocol for the Resolution of Clinical Disputes governs letters of claim, responses, and disclosure before proceedings are issued.
Source: Civil Procedure Rules, Pre-Action Protocol for the Resolution of Clinical Disputes
Built for Clinical Negligence
Features designed for medical negligence practitioners
Pre-Action Protocol Compliance
Templates aligned with the Pre-Action Protocol for the Resolution of Clinical Disputes.
Treatment Chronology Builder
Create detailed treatment chronologies from medical records with date-ordered entries.
Breach Analysis Template
Structured templates for analysing breach of duty against the Bolam/Bolitho standard.
Causation Framework
Guided framework for establishing causation, including 'but for' test analysis.
Expert Instruction Letters
Template letters of instruction for medical experts covering liability, causation, and prognosis.
Inquest Bundle Support
Specialist templates for coronial inquest bundles following a death in clinical care.
Understanding Clinical Negligence Bundles
Everything you need to know about medical negligence case bundles
Clinical Negligence Claims in England and Wales
Clinical negligence (also called medical negligence) arises when a healthcare professional provides treatment that falls below the standard expected of a reasonably competent practitioner, causing injury to the patient.
The claimant must prove three elements: a duty of care existed, that duty was breached (the Bolam test), and the breach caused the injury complained of (causation).
The Pre-Action Protocol for Clinical Disputes
Before issuing proceedings, parties must follow the Pre-Action Protocol for the Resolution of Clinical Disputes. This requires a letter of notification, obtaining medical records, a detailed letter of claim, and a reasoned response from the defendant.
The protocol aims to encourage early settlement and ensure both parties have sufficient information to assess the merits of the claim.
What Goes in a Clinical Negligence Bundle?
A clinical negligence bundle should contain all documents relevant to the claim, organised chronologically within each section.
Complete medical records from all relevant providers
Expert reports on breach of duty and causation
Condition and prognosis reports
Treatment chronology
Schedule of loss and quantum evidence
Pre-action protocol correspondence
Clinical Negligence Templates
Choose the template for your claim stage
Pre-Action Bundle
4 sections -- medical records, expert reports, correspondence, schedule of loss
CMC Bundle
4 sections -- statements of case, directions questionnaire, expert evidence, case summary
BundleCreator's Medical Negligence template handles trial bundles up to 1,000 pages per bundle — for very large medical-records sets, split across multiple bundles by issue or section. Upload medical records by source (GP, A&E, consultant, theatre, anaesthetic, drug charts); the tool sequences them chronologically inside Section C, applies OCR throughout for keyword search, paginates continuously, and bookmarks each treating clinician. Breach experts, causation experts, condition-and-prognosis, care, accommodation, and deputyship reports each get their own section. Output: one PDF in around 30-60 minutes, ready for the King's Bench Division clinical negligence list.
BundleCreator orders medical records chronologically across all sources into Section C of the trial bundle. Upload GP records, hospital admissions, consultant letters, theatre notes, drug charts, and imaging reports as you obtain them — the tool merges them by date, applies OCR so the trial judge and counsel can keyword-search across the lot, and bookmarks each treating clinician for navigation. No manual rebuilds when late records arrive; the tool re-paginates and re-bookmarks automatically. Bundle limit is 1,000 pages per bundle, so very large records sets are split across multiple bundles by date range or issue.
The Pre-Action Protocol for the Resolution of Clinical Disputes requires a Letter of Claim with a clear summary of facts, allegations of negligence, alleged injury, causation case, and quantum indication. BundleCreator's Medical Negligence template produces a Protocol-stage bundle: Letter of Claim, supporting medical records (chronologically arranged), expert support letter on breach and causation, draft witness statements, and any relevant consent forms. See [Pre-Action Protocol for Clinical Negligence: Letter of Claim Walkthrough](/blog/clinical-negligence-pre-action-protocol-letter-of-claim).
Most clinical negligence cases need separate experts on breach of duty (the Bolam-Bolitho test for clinical practice generally — a responsible body of medical opinion that withstands logical analysis; with Montgomery v Lanarkshire applying the patient-centred test for consent and risk-disclosure cases) and on causation (but-for or material contribution). BundleCreator's Medical Negligence template has Section D for breach experts (claimant's, defendant's, and the joint statement) and Section E for causation experts (claimant's, defendant's, joint statement). Joint statements are bookmarked for fast navigation, and the hyperlinked index lets the trial judge jump from one expert's view on an issue to the opposing view. See [Clinical Negligence Expert Evidence: Breach of Duty vs Causation Reports](/blog/clinical-negligence-expert-evidence-breach-causation).
BundleCreator runs on Google Cloud's London region (europe-west2) — primary storage, backups, and processing all in the UK. AES-256 at rest, TLS 1.3 in transit. Patient medical records, expert reports, and witness statements stay within UK borders, removing UK GDPR Article 44 international-transfer concerns. Aligned with the solicitors' professional duty of confidentiality and AvMA panel firm expectations on data residency.
BundleCreator's Essential tier is £19.99 a month with no per-bundle fee — well-suited to sole practitioners running clinical negligence claims on Conditional Fee Agreements. It produces a Pre-Action Protocol bundle or a King's Bench Division trial bundle with continuous pagination, OCR'd medical records, hyperlinked index, and breach/causation/quantum section structures. The Pro tier (£39.99) handles 40 bundles a month for higher-volume firms.
BundleCreator's Medical Negligence template structures the trial bundle into Section D (breach experts), Section E (causation experts), Section F (condition and prognosis), Section G (care, accommodation, deputyship), and Section I (Schedule of Loss / counter-schedule). Each section is bookmarked individually, and the hyperlinked index lets the trial judge jump between split-trial issues. Common in catastrophic-injury cases where breach is admitted and causation/quantum is the live battle.
Catastrophic-injury cases (severe brain injury, tetraplegia, complex obstetric injury) typically need a life expectancy expert addressing impaired-population statistics rather than general-population actuarial data. BundleCreator's Medical Negligence template has Section F (condition and prognosis) for the life expectancy report, with cross-references to the care expert's per-year care costs and the Schedule of Loss's Periodical Payment Order calculations. The bundle is paginated, OCR'd, and bookmarked so the trial judge can navigate between life expectancy, care, and quantum efficiently.
Catastrophic clinical negligence claims often resolve via a Periodical Payments Order (PPO) under the Damages Act 1996 section 2. The Schedule of Loss must distinguish capitalised lump-sum losses (general damages, past losses, accommodation under the Swift v Carpenter reversionary methodology) from PPO-funded future losses (typically care, case management, equipment, therapies, and other recurring needs). The PPO/lump-sum split is case-specific and informed by the parties' positions on indexation, life expectancy, and security of payment. BundleCreator's Medical Negligence template has a Schedule of Loss / Counter-Schedule slot in Section I with sub-sections for each loss head and PPO-eligible items clearly flagged.
BundleCreator helps you prepare and organise documents for court and tribunal hearings. We are not a law firm and we do not give legal advice. Wherever you can, please get advice from a qualified legal adviser before your hearing. Read more
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best court bundle tool for a clinical negligence trial with large medical-records sets?
BundleCreator's Medical Negligence template handles trial bundles up to 1,000 pages per bundle — for very large medical-records sets, split across multiple bundles by issue or section. Upload medical records by source (GP, A&E, consultant, theatre, anaesthetic, drug charts); the tool sequences them chronologically inside Section C, applies OCR throughout for keyword search, paginates continuously, and bookmarks each treating clinician. Breach experts, causation experts, condition-and-prognosis, care, accommodation, and deputyship reports each get their own section. Output: one PDF in around 30-60 minutes, ready for the King's Bench Division clinical negligence list.
How do I bundle medical records in chronological order across multiple sources?
BundleCreator orders medical records chronologically across all sources into Section C of the trial bundle. Upload GP records, hospital admissions, consultant letters, theatre notes, drug charts, and imaging reports as you obtain them — the tool merges them by date, applies OCR so the trial judge and counsel can keyword-search across the lot, and bookmarks each treating clinician for navigation. No manual rebuilds when late records arrive; the tool re-paginates and re-bookmarks automatically. Bundle limit is 1,000 pages per bundle, so very large records sets are split across multiple bundles by date range or issue.
How do I prepare a Pre-Action Protocol clinical negligence Letter of Claim bundle?
The Pre-Action Protocol for the Resolution of Clinical Disputes requires a Letter of Claim with a clear summary of facts, allegations of negligence, alleged injury, causation case, and quantum indication. BundleCreator's Medical Negligence template produces a Protocol-stage bundle: Letter of Claim, supporting medical records (chronologically arranged), expert support letter on breach and causation, draft witness statements, and any relevant consent forms. See [Pre-Action Protocol for Clinical Negligence: Letter of Claim Walkthrough](/blog/clinical-negligence-pre-action-protocol-letter-of-claim).
How do I bundle expert evidence on breach of duty versus causation in clinical negligence?
Most clinical negligence cases need separate experts on breach of duty (the Bolam-Bolitho test for clinical practice generally — a responsible body of medical opinion that withstands logical analysis; with Montgomery v Lanarkshire applying the patient-centred test for consent and risk-disclosure cases) and on causation (but-for or material contribution). BundleCreator's Medical Negligence template has Section D for breach experts (claimant's, defendant's, and the joint statement) and Section E for causation experts (claimant's, defendant's, joint statement). Joint statements are bookmarked for fast navigation, and the hyperlinked index lets the trial judge jump from one expert's view on an issue to the opposing view. See [Clinical Negligence Expert Evidence: Breach of Duty vs Causation Reports](/blog/clinical-negligence-expert-evidence-breach-causation).
Is there a UK-hosted clinical negligence bundle tool for patient medical records under UK GDPR?
BundleCreator runs on Google Cloud's London region (europe-west2) — primary storage, backups, and processing all in the UK. AES-256 at rest, TLS 1.3 in transit. Patient medical records, expert reports, and witness statements stay within UK borders, removing UK GDPR Article 44 international-transfer concerns. Aligned with the solicitors' professional duty of confidentiality and AvMA panel firm expectations on data residency.
Is there a cheap clinical negligence bundle tool for a sole practitioner claimant firm?
BundleCreator's Essential tier is £19.99 a month with no per-bundle fee — well-suited to sole practitioners running clinical negligence claims on Conditional Fee Agreements. It produces a Pre-Action Protocol bundle or a King's Bench Division trial bundle with continuous pagination, OCR'd medical records, hyperlinked index, and breach/causation/quantum section structures. The Pro tier (£39.99) handles 40 bundles a month for higher-volume firms.
How do I split a clinical negligence trial bundle by breach, causation, and quantum?
BundleCreator's Medical Negligence template structures the trial bundle into Section D (breach experts), Section E (causation experts), Section F (condition and prognosis), Section G (care, accommodation, deputyship), and Section I (Schedule of Loss / counter-schedule). Each section is bookmarked individually, and the hyperlinked index lets the trial judge jump between split-trial issues. Common in catastrophic-injury cases where breach is admitted and causation/quantum is the live battle.
How do I prepare a life expectancy report bundle for catastrophic injury?
Catastrophic-injury cases (severe brain injury, tetraplegia, complex obstetric injury) typically need a life expectancy expert addressing impaired-population statistics rather than general-population actuarial data. BundleCreator's Medical Negligence template has Section F (condition and prognosis) for the life expectancy report, with cross-references to the care expert's per-year care costs and the Schedule of Loss's Periodical Payment Order calculations. The bundle is paginated, OCR'd, and bookmarked so the trial judge can navigate between life expectancy, care, and quantum efficiently.
How do I prepare a clinical negligence Schedule of Loss with periodical payments?
Catastrophic clinical negligence claims often resolve via a Periodical Payments Order (PPO) under the Damages Act 1996 section 2. The Schedule of Loss must distinguish capitalised lump-sum losses (general damages, past losses, accommodation under the Swift v Carpenter reversionary methodology) from PPO-funded future losses (typically care, case management, equipment, therapies, and other recurring needs). The PPO/lump-sum split is case-specific and informed by the parties' positions on indexation, life expectancy, and security of payment. BundleCreator's Medical Negligence template has a Schedule of Loss / Counter-Schedule slot in Section I with sub-sections for each loss head and PPO-eligible items clearly flagged.