Does MedCo apply for a claimant who was involved in an RTA in England/Wales but resides elsewhere (outside the jurisdiction) e.g. Scotland?

For accidents that happened on or after 31 May 2021, the RTA Small Claims Pre Action Protocol at Paragraph 7.5 says;

“Where the claimant lives outside England and Wales, there is no requirement to obtain a fixed cost medical report via MedCo and paragraph 7.4 does not apply. The claimant may either—

(a) obtain a first medical report in accordance with paragraph (2) or (3) below;

(b) obtain a fixed cost medical report via MedCo where they choose to search against an address in England and Wales from which they can attend the medical examination; or

(c) seek assistance in obtaining a first medical report from the compensator.

(2) In a claim which consists of or includes a whiplash injury, the first report must be from a person who is recognised by the country in which they practise as—

(a) being a medical expert; and

(b) having the required qualifications for the purposes of diagnosis and prognosis of a whiplash injury.

(3) In a claim which does not include a whiplash injury, any first report obtained must be from a person who is recognised by the country in which they practise as being a medical expert.”

 

For accidents before 31 May 2021, provisions dating from the original RTA Pre-Action Protocol already effectively limited the claimant to instructing a medical expert in the UK. Paragraph 1(12) of the protocol states:

“(12) ‘medical expert’ means a person who is—

(a) registered with the General Medical Council;

(b) registered with the General Dental Council; or

(c) a Psychologist or Physiotherapist registered with the Health Care Professions Council”

The only difference arising since the implementation of the MedCo reforms, is that, now, initial medical reports in soft tissue injury claims must be obtained from a medical expert, as defined above, who is also registered with MedCo.

Prior to the implementation of MedCo, a pragmatic system was in place where defendant insurers would accept reasonably sourced reports from non-registered experts in the small number of cases where the claimant, because they live outside the England and Wales jurisdiction had been unable to present a report from a GMC registered expert. Therefore following discussion of this issue between MoJ and members of the MedCo Board, the ABI, MASS and APIL have agreed to advise their membership that this pragmatic approach to agreeing the provision of a suitable medical report should continue to be taken.