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In a keynote address at the Association of British Insurers Motor Conference, Jonathan Evans MP, chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on insurance & financial services, said that people have got to stop using the word ‘whiplash’ as though it is “some distinct medical condition”.
He said that following a meeting of the APPG last week, medical experts gave evidence which indicated that whiplash should instead be called “neck pain” to get over the “mindset” that whiplash “equals £3000 worth of compensation no questions asked”.
He added how difficult it is to challenge that when a survey of healthcare professions shows that 47% of doctors working in this sphere believe that under the current system people are encouraged to diagnose whiplash for the maximum financial gain, that there are 1600 cases a day with diagnosis of whiplash and that within that survey only 13% believed that these claims were genuine.
“These are the doctors themselves that are signing off people,” he said.
“There are interesting sidelines to the survey, 80% of doctors said not withstanding the fact that they didn’t think they were genuine, they thought they were accurate. Alongside that 75% said they were very open to fraud.”
Evans also tackled the subject of how we are able to tackle some of the abuses that take place whilst at the same time maintaining access to justice.
“That is a key issue for parliamentarians and it has got to be a key issue for those within the insurance industry as well,” he said.
“I don’t think that it is good enough to have a scenario in which those people who are opposed to referral fees who want to see many of the Jackson reforms put into operation, to cheer from the sidelines, whilst we are facing the very proper argument that set reforms should not be brought into being against a background of reducing access to justice. I think there needs to be a bit more collective and innovative thinking within the insurance industry about how this issue should be addressed,” he added.
Original Article: Post
Medico Legal News Source: Claims Standards Council
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