Rehabilitation

Many people see a personal injury claim solely as a way to obtain compensation and a sense of justice after an injury caused through no fault of their own.

While compensation is important, many legitimate claims are never made, leaving significant sums unpaid to injured people each year.

One of the reasons for this is undoubtedly the length of time and the amount of effort making a personal injury claim may take.

For people with apparently modest injuries, minimal financial loss, or a likely recovery, the process can seem too time-consuming for the compensation likely to be available.

What they may not realise is that a claim can also unlock access to early rehabilitation, which might significantly improve long-term recovery.

At Battens, we recognise this as being just as much a part of acting in our clients’ best interests as striving to secure reasonable financial compensation that will, as far as it is possible do so, put our clients back into the position that they were in before their accident happened.

What is rehabilitation?

Rehabilitation is the action of restoring someone to health or normal life through training and therapy after injury or illness.

Physiotherapy is a familiar example, but rehabilitation in a personal injury claim can also include:

• Occupational therapy to help an injured person regain independence and function in daily life.
• Psychological therapy or support for those coping with life-changing injuries that they need to come to terms with, or with anxiety, fear, or a loss of confidence to do things that they previously enjoyed.
• Aids or equipment, from walking sticks and wheelchairs to prosthetics, voice-controlled lighting, or specialist software.
• Home adaptations, such as hoists, stairlifts, ramps, or widened doorways, or alternative accommodation (a new/different home) if the injured person’s needs cannot be catered for in the home they currently live in.
• Support returning to work after sickness absence, including reasonable adjustments where needed.

Early rehabilitation can be crucial to maximising recovery and helping an injured person return to their pre-injured life.

Therefore, the earlier rehabilitation is started, the better.

How is rehabilitation catered for within the personal injury claim process?

Early rehabilitation requires early funding.

Many injured people cannot afford private treatment, and NHS treatment may not be available quickly enough, if at all, to make the most of the immediate window of opportunity within which rehabilitation would be best implemented.

With that in mind, The Rehabilitation Code, most recently updated on 1 December 2015, was put together by a working party including representatives from the insurance industry, legal groups, care providers and the NHS.

The Code encourages early cooperation between injured people’s representatives and compensators, and its aim is to try and put the injured person back into their original position, whilst attempting to avoid the chance for injuries and symptoms to worsen or become chronic.

Compensators should therefore consider rehabilitation at an early stage, even before liability is fully resolved. This may sometimes mean paying out on a claim where their policyholder is ultimately found not to have been at fault, and where no payment would otherwise have been due.

A discussion between the injured person’s legal representative and the compensator should take place as soon as possible in every case, no matter how serious the injuries suffered are, in which the role that rehabilitation could play at an early stage to assist the injured person should be discussed.

If, following that conversation, a rehabilitation arrangement is put in place and a compensator agrees to and provides funds for early rehabilitation, it cannot ask the injured person to repay those costs if the claim is unsuccessful.

This allows the injured person to begin appropriate rehabilitation without worrying about personal liability for the cost.

What is the benefit of rehabilitation for the injured party?

If rehabilitation is agreed, the compensator will often start by funding an assessment by a case manager, usually by telephone, who identifies current needs and the likely cost of meeting them promptly.

A triage report will be prepared by the case manager following that assessment detailing their recommendations, which both the injured party and the compensator will see.

From there, agreement will hopefully be forthcoming for funding to be made available to work through a rehabilitation plan that will usually continue to evolve as recommended initial investigations (including scans and follow-up consultations) and courses of treatment are completed.

Because this treatment is usually arranged privately, it can often happen faster than through the NHS, improving the chances of a timely recovery.

Successful rehabilitation may of course reduce the final compensation award, but less pain, better recovery, and an earlier return to work are surely more valuable than a larger award achieved at the expense of health and quality of life.

How do we at Battens ensure that rehabilitation is considered at the earliest possible opportunity?

At Battens, we follow the Rehabilitation Code in every personal injury case, regardless of severity or injury or value, because early rehabilitation is an essential part of acting in our clients’ best interests.

If you have been injured in an accident that was someone else’s fault and would like advice about rehabilitation or making a claim, please contact our experienced Personal Injury Team who can help you to access the treatment and support that you need.