The government’s new portal system for sourcing medical reports in soft tissue claims is “ineffective” and merely adds “an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy”, a Road Traffic Accident (RTA) specialist lawyer has warned.
Since 6 April 2015, personal injury practitioners must use MedCo to source experts and medical agencies for all soft tissue injury claims entering the Road Traffic Accidents (RTA) Portal. Lawyers enter basic information into the portal, and are provided with a randomised list of seven experts or Medical Reporting Organisations within a 30-mile radius. However, writing in NLJ this week, Theo Richardson-Gool of Hodge, Jones and Allen says the portal does not show the experts’ CVs, locations where the experts have medical appointments or even the days and times of their availability. “In essence it provides inadequate information to make informed decisions,” he says.
An MoJ spokesperson said: “New systems such as the MedCo IT portal will make sure all medical reports are independent, removing potential conflicts of interest.” (See this week's comment.)
