Getting your life back on track after an accident

Rehabilitation is a major part of the claim process that some firms do not focus enough attention on. From the minute we take on your claim at Anthony Gold, it is our main focus and an aspect of the claim that we throw our full weight behind very early on. We deal predominantly in cases involving serious injuries in which our clients need urgent help with their recovery. This can range from basic physiotherapy or counselling all the way up to a prosthesis or even re-housing a client whose home is no longer suitable for them due to their injuries.

We understand that, whilst the NHS is a fantastic resource, it is hugely overburdened and progress through the NHS system is very slow, especially in respect of psychological therapies for example. If we can secure an early admission of liability in any case, or if we are satisfied that a claim has strong prospects of success, we can arrange for our clients to undergo an early Immediate Needs Assessment (INA) to determine what their most urgent rehabilitation needs are. We will then provide that INA to the insurers and invite them to fund the recommended treatment privately, thus releasing some of the burden on the NHS and ensuring that our clients get the help they need much quicker than they would otherwise get it on the NHS.

The purpose of the personal injury claim process is to seek to put the injured person back into the position they were in prior to the accident. In cases involving the more serious injuries that will never be possible, so it is crucial to do all that we can to get those clients into the best, most appropriate and most comfortable position possible in the light of their injuries and the limitations and restrictions that these place upon them.

It is for this reason that we focus our attention so strongly on rehabilitation. In a case involving serious injuries, no medical expert reporting on those injuries for the purpose of the claim will be able to provide a definitive opinion and prognosis for some time. In most orthopaedic injury cases it could be up to two years before the expert can do so. We therefore always think about what can be done in that intervening period to expedite our client’s recovery and to make them as comfortable as possible.

This is not necessarily limited to treatment. For example, if a seriously injured client can no longer get in and out of the bath or stand in the shower, there are aids and equipment that can be arranged to help them with this. If a client is unable to work following an accident and is not getting paid, we can arrange a benefits assessment to determine whether there is any financial help they can get by claiming state benefits. If a client can no longer drive but needs to get to and from medical appointments, we can arrange a taxi account to help get them anywhere that they need to go.

You can therefore see that the help we can provide our clients extends way beyond treatment and we will always seek agreement from the insurance company to pay for all of these things so the costs will not come out of our clients’ pockets. Insurers have a duty to consider funding rehabilitation for injured clients making a claim in accordance with their duties under the Rehabilitation Code (last updated in 2015), irrespective of their stance on liability. This means that, if we are able to arrange an INA early on in the claim and provide this to the insurers, we can ask them to fund and engage with us in the crucial rehabilitation process. It is in their best interests to agree, because if a client gets treatment early on, their recovery is usually quicker and this in turns reduces the overall value of the claim as their period of disability is reduced. This therefore means that, in return for the outlay to cover private treatment early on in the claim, it could end up saving the insurers more money in the long run, which is why they will often engage with us in the rehabilitation process.

The personal injury claim process for a seriously injured client is a lengthy one, which will usually take several years. At Anthony Gold, we undertake this journey with you and do all that we can along the way to make it as smooth as possible. We liaise with the rehabilitation agencies ourselves to make sure that any recommendations made for a client are implemented and paid for and that our clients get the treatment and support they need without delay. It is an ongoing process that we constantly monitor and this is by far one of the main advantages of the claim process and one that we are always keen to take full advantage of for our clients’ benefit.