A lawyer from a Shropshire-based legal practice has won a privileged place on a panel of national experts who deal with cases involving medical accidents.

Lucy Small, of Lanyon Bowdler Solicitors, is now among the UK’s most respected clinical negligence lawyers as part of the Action Against Medical Accidents charity’s legal panel.

The charity, known as AvMA, is the UK’s leading organisation helping people who need to file complaints against hospitals and health trusts following medical accidents or errors.

Being part of its legal panel is a major accolade for a lawyer, as the charity only selects people who are leaders in their field.

Lucy Small, who is a partner at Lanyon Bowdler and heads the Ludlow and Hereford clinical negligence teams, said she was delighted to have been selected.

She said: “AvMA is a fantastic charity which supports people through incredibly difficult times in their lives.

“Official figures show there are more than 1 million medical accidents in UK hospitals every year, and it is estimated that about one in every 10 people who visit hospital are affected by some sort of clinical error.

“While those figures are quite scary, it should be said that the majority of errors are fairly minor and don’t result in physical harm.

“However, when things do go seriously wrong, the impact on patients and their families can be catastrophic.

“AvMA supports people through the whole process of starting a claim against a hospital or health trust, which is a very complicated thing to do, particularly for people when they are emotionally affected by an incident.

“Being on the AvMA panel means that I am a recommended solicitor specialising in clinical negligence cases, and it is gratifying to be recognised by such a respected charity.”

Head of Lanyon Bowdler’s clinical negligence team, Kay Kelly, congratulated Lucy for being recommended by AvMA.

She said: “It is a real accolade to be named on the AvMA Specialist Clinical Negligence Panel, and it is testament to Lucy’s dedication and expertise that she has been accepted.

“Most importantly it gives assurances to clients that she is very experienced and highly skilled at helping to get justice and closure in their cases.”

Lucy can be contacted by emailing lucy.small@lblaw.co.uk or calling 01584 871732.

For information on the AvMA charity, visit the website at www.avma.org.uk