The Future Provision of Medical Reports in Road Traffic Accident related Personal Injury Claims
Published: 20 May 2019
On the 18 April The Ministry of Justice (MoJ) published its consultation entitled ‘Future Provision of Medical Reports in Road Traffic Accident related personal injury claims’ as part of its programme to reform the soft tissue injury (‘whiplash’) claims process. Today MedCo has published its full response to the consultation.
The consultation sought views on;
- Expanding MedCo’s remit to cover initial medical reports for all Road Traffic Accident (RTA) related personal injury claims up to £5000
- Whether to widen the type of medical expert who can be registered on the MedCo system
- Whether to extend the existing fixed recoverable costs regime for medical reports
- The procedure for unrepresented claimants to obtain medical evidence.
Martin Heskins, Executive Chair of the MedCo Board says:
“MedCo has participated in the consultation from the point of view of ensuring the new system provides a simple and efficient service for unpresented claimants. We believe that expanding the service to cover all road traffic accident related personal injury claims up to £5000 is a step in the right direction towards securing this positive outcome.
“Our response also states our opinion that GP experts have sufficient expertise to cover most injuries up to £5000. In addition, we have stated the need for a revised qualifying criteria in order to further enhance a high quality independent medical journey for the claimant. We look forward to seeing the outcome of the consultation and will continue to keep our users informed of key developments.”
The points of MedCo’s response in summary are:
- Medco supports the expansion to cover all RTA related personal injury claims up to £5000
- MedCo’s view is that GP experts have sufficient expertise to cover injury up to £5000
- Must publish a revised qualifying criteria to ensure litigants in person are afforded a robust quality independent medical journey
Background
- MedCo is the system used to facilitate the sourcing of the first fixed cost medical report in soft tissue injury claims brought under the MoJ’s Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury Claims in Road Traffic Accidents
- The outcomes of the MoJ consultation will feed directly into its wider ‘whiplash’ reform programme to be implemented in April 2020 which includes:
- Raising the small claims limit from £1000 to £5000 in all RTA personal injury claims
- Introduction of a tariff for general damages in “whiplash” claims
- Prohibition on settling such claims without a medical report.
Read the consultation at: MoJ Consultation – Future provision of medical reports
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