Medical report review and amendment policy.

This policy applies to supporting letters, factual statements, medical reports and expert reports that we prepare to agreed instructions. It applies whether you are the patient or a solicitor, insurer, employer or other organisation instructing us.

Letters and reports are provided where clinically appropriate after assessment.

Standard certificates, sick notes and examination forms, such as a fit to fly certificate or a driver medical form, are completed at the appointment. We check the details on them with you, and we correct any error of ours free of charge. Sections 3, 5 and 6 apply to them as well.

Before work begins, we confirm in writing:

• the purpose of the document and who it is for;
• the questions it will address;
• its approximate length;
• the evidence the doctor will review;
• the fee, and what the fee includes.

Depending on your instructions, the document may be a clinical supporting letter, a factual statement or an expert report. If the person or organisation receiving it sets a word or page limit, please tell us at this stage, so the agreed length reflects it.

The quoted fee includes one consolidated review of the draft, for factual accuracy and reasonable clarification. Please send all your comments together, in one message.

Corrections needed to put right our errors, material omissions or a failure to meet the agreed instructions are made without additional charge. This responsibility continues beyond the initial review: if you find one of these after the document has been issued, tell us and we will correct it free of charge.

Requests we can normally make within the review

• correcting a factual error, such as a name, a date or part of your history;
• clarifying wording that could be misunderstood;
• answering an agreed question that the draft has not answered;
• making the document consistent with itself and relevant to the agreed questions.

Requests we cannot make

• removing relevant clinical findings or evidence;
• changing a conclusion that the evidence does not support changing;
• adding a statement the doctor cannot verify;
• writing the document towards a conclusion decided in advance.

We consider every request for an amendment. The doctor will revise a clinical opinion where the evidence, or professional review, justifies a change.

Requesting an amendment does not guarantee that an amendment will be made. The expert will only amend a report where the amendment is professionally and evidentially justified.

We cannot remove relevant information or alter conclusions where doing so would make the document inaccurate, misleading or professionally unsupportable. A request to change an opinion, or to leave out material evidence, simply because it does not help a claim or application will be declined.

When a doctor acts as an expert witness, their overriding duty is to the court. That duty overrides any obligation to the person instructing them or paying for the report. If the doctor's view on a relevant matter changes after a report has been issued, they will tell the person who instructed them without delay.

All medico-legal assessments and expert reports are independent professional opinions. No particular diagnosis, conclusion, causation opinion, prognosis, consistency assessment, recommendation or outcome can be promised or guaranteed.

Requests outside the agreed instructions may attract an additional fee. For example:

• a different report format;
• shortening the document substantially beyond the agreed length;
• answering additional questions;
• reviewing evidence supplied after the instructions were agreed.

Every fee for letters and reports, including the professional time rate, is on our medical report fees page.

Fees pay for the agreed professional work: the assessment, the review of the evidence and the preparation of the document. They do not buy a particular medical opinion, and they do not guarantee a favourable legal outcome.

We will never make a necessary correction, or a disclosure we are professionally obliged to make, conditional on payment of a disputed additional fee.

You can raise a concern about the accuracy or relevance of a document, the service you received or the fees charged. Email enquiries@cliniquealpa.co.uk, call 020 8882 8088, or see our complaints page for how a complaint is handled.

This policy does not restrict your statutory rights or your access to our complaints procedure.