Since the start of the COVID-19 crisis in March 2020, face-to-face appointments for everything from haircuts to seeing a doctor have all but disappeared, almost overnight.
In many serious injury cases, the immediate concern was that cases and rehabilitation would effectively have to be put on hold because appointments could not take place, whether that's therapeutic assessments or medico-legal assessments.
For individuals who've already suffered from significant injuries, this uncertainty was unsettling - but thankfully virtual assessments have proved an invaluable way of offering continual support.
We’re doing everything we can to stay in contact with our clients, and support them through this challenging period.
A quick chat with our legal executive, Jack
Access to urgent and thorough rehabilitation is an integral part of the personal injury process. It’s the role of our legal executive from the personal injury team, Jack Lloyd, and his colleagues to get rehabilitation access in place as early as possible for our clients. Jack has shared with us how the process works, the benefits and limitations of virtual appointments, and why the focus will always be on getting our clients the best possible outcome.
Hi Jack - thanks for chatting with us. First question - how would a client normally get access to rehabilitation?
Before lockdown, it was a relatively straightforward process if liability could be established. We could first instruct a case manager to prepare an Immediate Needs Assessment. From that, recommendations could be made and implemented to make sure the injured person’s quality of life and recovery could be maximised. After lockdown, this has become a lot more challenging.
How do you assess a client's needs if you can't meet them face-to-face?
Enter the virtual assessment. Conducted over Zoom, or Google Meet, or even WhatsApp, the injured person and therapist or expert can see each-other, and establish the best way forward together. It sounds pretty good, right? But do these appointments offer the same potential for all the issues to be picked up? You’ll probably be thinking about the things you can’t see when you can only see someone’s head and shoulders, or what you won’t pick up because you aren’t in their home. But what about more subtle issues that wouldn’t immediately spring to mind?
Have you got any examples of where this could be a problem?
Imagine you’re speaking with an injured person, and the internet connection isn’t very good. You ask them a question, and they say they can’t hear you because of the connection, you repeat yourself several times and they eventually hear you, answer the question, and you’re satisfied with their answer. What if the internet connection was actually fine and the client was asking you to repeat the question because they didn’t understand the question, or they were struggling to put together an answer?
The assessment would then be prepared, recommendations made, and a plan put together - but potentially with a key piece missing. The same could easily apply to issues with vision, hearing, idea generation, insight - that could very easily be missed in a virtual setting due to their subtle presentation, but could have a significant impact on the client if not considered when preparing their plan.
What does this mean for both you and the client?
As a serious injury lawyer, I need to be satisfied that we’ve thoroughly investigated all of our client’s functional problems and deficits to ensure that we protect their future. From the perspective of the injured person, this may be a barrier to them getting the rehabilitation that may be very seriously needed.
How do we solve this?
Virtual appointments aren't perfect, but they're critical at a time when face-to-face assessments and rehabilitation aren’t currently an option. From a therapeutic point of view, not having any rehabilitation whatsoever isn’t an option, so our focus is on doing everything we can to support our clients, however we can.
Final question, Jack - have you experienced this in any of your cases so far?
I’m currently involved in a case where our client sustained significant neurological spinal injuries as a result of a road traffic collision, where she was an unrestrained passenger in a bus which collided with a tree.
Our client has seen both a neuro-physiotherapist and their GP, both remotely. The neuro-physio identified some concerns about how our client was managing at home following neuro-surgery, but stated in her notes that without being at the patient’s home to see the issues in person meant that she couldn’t get to the bottom of it. The GP then picked this up, and during that appointment, asked some directed questions to get to the bottom of the situation. This could so easily have been missed, had the neuro-physio not recognised that the virtual appointment meant that she couldn’t see everything she needed to see.
Focusing on what really matters
Now more than ever, it’s important that we continue to communicate with our clients and support them every step of the way. It’s a difficult time for everyone, and life has changed dramatically for us all, but whatever support our clients need, they can rest assured that we’ll help them access it whether that’s virtually or face-to-face sometime in the near future – when it’s safe to do so.
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