Medical whiplash panels at risk of being insurers' 'captives' MP tells Commons

The introduction of medical panels were included in a package of measures to combat whiplash claims and the cost of motor insurance announced by the Ministry of Justice last month.

In yesterday’s commons debate, Labour MP for Hammersmith Andy Slaughter disputed that the panels are the simplest solution in relation to whiplash claims.

“I have no particular problem with independent medical panels, if they work. However, I do not think they will make a dramatic difference, and I am not sure that they are the simplest or right solution,” he said.

“When the panels have been used in other countries – Australia is the obvious example – they have rather become the captives of the insurance industry. I hope that that will not happen here and they will be genuinely independent.

“They will be a great new piece of bureaucracy and I am not sure that we could not have achieved the same objective of being sure we were getting reliable, robust and testing medical reports simply through registers of medical practitioners who were accredited as independent. That would have been cheaper, probably as effective or more effective and more independent.”

Also speaking in the debate, Parliamentary Under-secretary of State for Justice Shailesh Vara said: “The government is particularly pleased that representatives from the insurance, legal and medical sectors have put aside their differences and submitted a consensus approach to improving medical evidence and reports.”

“Ministers plan to meet representatives from key stakeholder groups to outline the way forward and identify experts to work with officials on the detail of the new system. It is both important and sensible to involve industry experts when designing the detailed changes,” he added.

Transport Select Committee leader and MP for Liverpool Riverside Louise Ellman said the committee was “disturbed” to find that insurers often offer to settle claims before medical evidence is provided.

“It cannot be good practice for insurers to settle whiplash claims without medical evidence. It is unacceptable that ways are still found for insurers, solicitors, doctors, garages, car hire firms and others in this merry-go-round to make money out of claims, often by inflating the work necessary to address them,” Ellman added.