Can I Claim Rehabilitation In A Personal Injury Claim?
Rehabilitation to form a core part of NHS Future Planning?
With the General Election underway, Headway (a leading Brain Injury Charity) has highlighted that it is vital that rehabilitation forms a core part of NHS future planning. They consider that the next Government must make a commitment to rehabilitation as an equal pillar of health care to medicines and surgery.
Community Rehabilitation Alliance (CRA)
The CRA in England is made up of more than 60 charities and professional bodies.
The CRA engages with a key range of stakeholders from UK Government to opposition political parties and NHS leaders and charities to ensure that rehabilitation remains high on the healthcare agenda.
As a Claimant lawyer Rehabilitation is always at the forefront of my mind when I represent clients who have been involved in an accident.
Rehabilitation can include just to name a few
- Physiotherapy
- Osteopathy
- CBT/EMDR
- Neurophysiotherapy
- Speech Therapy
If you have been injured in an accident you may start treatment through the NHS. Sometimes there can be long waiting lists under the NHS and where possible it is helpful to work collaboratively with Defendant Insurers to consider possible funding privately using a rehabilitation provider. This can often be helpful in cases where liability is admitted and the Defendant representative is willing to fund private rehabilitation with the aim to get the Claimant back to the position they were in prior to the accident or as close as reasonably practicable.
What is the Rehabilitation Code?
The Code will encourage Claimant Solicitors to consider whether early treatment and rehabilitation such as physiotherapy treatment and CBT treatment for example will aid the recovery of the injuries sustained in an accident.
I will always ask the Defendant Representative if they will engage in the Rehabilitation Code when I send a letter of claim to the Defendant. I will ask if they would agree in the first instance to an Immediate Needs Assessment.
Immediate Needs Assessment
Depending on the nature of the injuries sustained in an accident, it is often helpful for a medical professional to carry out an Immediate Needs Assessment setting out what injuries have been suffered in an accident and what treatment is currently in place often under the NHS. It may be prepared by an occupational therapist or other type of professional depending on the nature of the injuries.
Recommendations would be made for what further treatment and investigations would be helpful to aid the recovery of injuries and to consider what aids and adaptations and adjustments may be required to a Claimant’s current job.
It is helpful to agree to an INA at the very start of the claim. The Defendant may not necessarily agree to the recommendations in the INA until a decision on liability has been made. However it helps the Defendant to understand the nature of the injuries at the outset of the claim.
In some instances the Defendant may make an early admission and agree to fund treatment based on the recommendations in an INA report. This is often helpful to many clients who are only obtaining treatment under the NHS and there are delays in receiving treatment due to long waiting times.
Who carries out an INA?
This is often carried out by a Rehabilitation Company by an independent person. The Claimant Solicitor and Defendant Solicitor will need to agree on a company to instruct.
The assessor will then meet with the Claimant and consider the injuries sustained in an accident and any care needs and liaise with GP’s and treating doctors where necessary and draft a report which will be sent to both the Claimant and Defendant Solicitors.
The Defendant representative if they agree to an INA will be expected to pay for the cost of the report. As stated above they may not necessarily agree to fund the recommendations of a report.
As a Claimant you are not required to have the treatment recommended in an INA.
What is a case manager?
In some personal injury claims it is necessary for a case manager to be appointed to co –ordinate any recommended treatment. The case manager will often work closely with obtaining medical records from treating doctors and GP’s.
Will an INA be used as evidence in my Personal Injury Claim?
An INA cannot be used in Litigation unless there is the consent of both parties. However often what rehabilitation will do is try to and aid the recovery of injuries and try to put the Claimant back in a position they were in prior to the injury being sustained in an accident.
If you have any queries regarding rehabilitaton after your injury as a result of an accident, contact our leading personal injury lawyers now on 0330 822 3451 or request a call back.