Expert Occupational Therapy Assessment Reports and Testimony in Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence Cases

Clare Garside, Assessability's occupational therapy expert witness, has more than 30 years experience of undertaking functional assessments and presenting up to date, detailed, well-evidenced and fully costed opinion to inform the Courts, contributing to the Schedule of Special Damages in Personal Injury and Clinical Negligence cases including:

• Road traffic accidents
• Accidents at work
• Tripping and slipping
• Birth injuries
• Hospital negligence

Assessments normally occur in a person's own home and visits are undertaken nationwide. Reports are realistic, lucid and concisely expressed. They provide a rich picture of an injured party's prior lifestyle, including pre-existing conditions as a benchmark against which to assess loss, and summarise the nature of the index incident.

A comprehensive report explores in detail the impact of the index incident and identifies the needs arising from it such as:

• Loss of capacity to self-care
• Loss of carer services (e.g. of children or vulnerable adults)
• Loss of domestic services (e.g. cooking, cleaning and household maintenance)
• Loss of established leisure activities

Recommendations address all relevant heads of claim and provide quantified proposals in areas such as:

• Past and future personal and domestic care
• Past and future personal and domestic assistive equipment
• Rehabilitation (including reasonable adjustment at work)
• Housing needs and necessary adaptation
• Mobility and transport equipment and services
• Contracted replacement services (e.g. hairdressing, decorating)
• Therapy and leisure needs
• Other recoverable domestic losses resulting from the index injury

We accept instructions on behalf of either the claimant or the defence, or as a single joint expert. The percentage split, based on recent history, is 70% / 20% / 10%.

An immediate needs assessment can be provided when required. This yields a simpler report that omits evaluation of an injured person's past and longer-term future needs to focus on the nature and cost of their current requirements.