Frequently Asked Questions

We are a leading provider of independent medical reports, used to assist in the resolution of personal injury claims like yours. We are a Medical Reporting Organisation who have been arranging appointments and providing medical reports since 2003. We are completely independent of all parties involved and this ensures you receive an unbiased and fair assessment. Our experienced team is here to assist you with this process, arrange a convenient appointment for you and ensure you receive your medical report quickly.

You can expect to receive an appointment within 3 days from starting the process with us and most appointments take place within a week or two after this, though our main aim is to ensure we provide an appointment that suits you so depending on when is convenient for you, this may take a little longer. Following your appointment, your report will be produced and provided you are happy with it, then the process from start to finish shouldn't take more than between 25 and 35 business days.

Call us on 0333 414 1988. Our telephone lines are open between 8am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday. Alternatively you can email us at info@ukindmed.com or write to us at UK Independent Medical, Brenner House, Rainton Bridge Business Park, Houghton-le-Spring, DH4 5RA and one of our team will get back to you.
Please include your reference number if you have one when corresponding with us and have it to hand if you're giving us a call.

Our business operating hours are 8.00am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday.

We work tirelessly to ensure your information is secure. For an full explanation of our commitment to this and our data privacy policy please visit our website.

We pride ourselves on delivering a service that meets your expectations but we appreciate that sometimes things can go wrong. We welcome your feedback and understand there may be times when you want to make a complaint. You can make a complaint by telephone, e-mail or in writing and our complaints process can be found here. We commit to acknowledging all complaints within 24 hours, operate best practice complaints handling principles and look to provide a quick resolution to any issues or concerns raised.

When you choose us to provide your medical report we consider this as an instruction to provide this service to you. We will allocate you with a unique reference and set up a case within our system to track and record all progress and communication.

We will keep you updated regularly as to the progress of your case by telephone and in writing and our team is on hand to assist you with any enquiries you may have.

Seeing your own Doctor would be considered a conflict of interest. Your own Doctor would not be able to give an independent, non biased opinion since they already know you and may have even seen you already in relation to your injuries received from the accident. The Medical Expert examining you must be independent so they can give a non-biased opinion based on the facts; acting neither on your behalf or on behalf of the third party, but solely for the Court. The Doctor who examines you and prepares your report also needs to be accredited and fully vetted to ensure they have the knowledge and experience to prepare a compliant report.

The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) has set out how civil claims should be handled in what's known as the Civil Procedure Rules (CPR). This is to ensure all claims are dealt with appropriately. The MOJ review the CPR regularly with many aims such as ensuring Claimants are adequately compensated, that the majority of claims are settled quickly reducing the need for proceedings to be issued and reducing the number of fraudulent claims which increase the premiums we pay to our insurers to be able to drive our vehicles. The CPR states you must have a medical report from an accredited expert to ensure you receive the right amount of compensation for your injuries. An accredited Medical Expert will have the right expertise and knowledge to perform the examination and provide an unbiased opinion on your injuries and give any recommendations to aid your recovery such as recommending treatment.

We recognise that there may be occasions when you do not want to go ahead with your case or perhaps for some reason you need to put things on hold. Please contact us quoting your reference number either by phone on 0333 414 1988 or via email at info@ukindmed.com and one of our team will be happy to assist you.

We will provide an appointment at the earliest convenience to you and have availability across 90% of the postcodes in England and Wales, we will give you a minimum of a weeks’ notice but can happily provide an earlier appointment should you choose this.

Please contact us as soon as you become aware as we'll need to re-arrange your appointment. It's important that the Medical Expert providing your report doesn't know you and hasn't provided you with treatment in the past. If you were to see a known expert this would be considered a conflict of interest as the Medical Expert's opinion may be considered biased. The Compensator may not accept the Medical Expert's opinion provided and this could delay your case.

It is essential that you bring two forms of identification with you to the appointment; one of these should contain a photograph.
In order of preference:

• Passport
• Photo Driving License
• Original Birth Certificate
• Bank Statement / Utility Bill
• Credit or Bank Card

It would greatly assist the Medical Expert if you could provide them with information, along with the corresponding dates, about:

• Any previous incidents
• Absence from work as a result of this incident
• Treatment you have received following this incident
• Previous medical history that is relevant to the incident being assessed

It is essential that you bring two forms of identification with you to your appointment; one of these should contain a photograph. In order of preference:

• Passport
• Photo Driving License
• Original Birth Certificate
• Bank Statement/Utility Bill
• Credit or Bank Card

We have appointments available in over 90% of the postcodes in England and Wales so there should be no need to travel far. We rarely provide appointments outside of 15 miles from the address you've told us you'll be travelling from (e.g. home / work).

You can take someone to accompany you to the appointment. In fact it's essential if you are under the age of 18 years. We would ask you to minimise this to one person only and only if you feel it's essential. If you are accompanied by anyone at your appointment, the Medical Expert will require the full name and relationship of the attendee (unless they are a minor), as this information has to be recorded within your medical report. Additionally some of our Medical Experts may also ask to see their ID in order to confirm their identity.

Your appointment is likely to last 15 to 20 minutes. If your injuries are complex or if a specialist report is required your appointment may take considerably longer. To ensure the information you give is recorded fully and accurately, the Medical Expert may need to use their computer throughout your appointment. Please be aware that your appointment might involve a physical examination. Dependent on your injuries this may require you to remove some items of clothing. Should you have any queries regarding this, please contact us. At UKIM we are constantly reviewing Government and Regulatory guidelines and will ensure that when your appointment takes place it does so following all the current advice at the time in a clean COVID-19 free environment. Our Experts will ensure they will only ever see those who are symptom and infection free, so that you can attend your appointment with confidence.

Yes, the best way to do this is to call us as soon as possible on 0333 414 1988. Monday to Friday 8.00am to 8.00pm, Friday 8:00am to 5.30pm and Saturday 9:00am to 12 noon. Alternatively you can contact us by e-mail at info@ukindmed.com. Please make sure that you provide us with as much information as possible regarding a suitable time for your re-arranged appointment. Please note that if we do not receive notice that you would like to re-arrange within 48 hours of your appointment then this will be classed as non-attendance since the Medical Expert will have reserved this slot for you.

After your appointment, a report will be written by the Medical Expert and uploaded to the Official Injury Claims Portal from which you will receive a communication to review the report.

Please contact us as soon as you are able so we can rearrange your appointment and record the reason why you were unable to attend. Please note however that we can only re-arrange one missed appointment. If you miss more than one appointment you will be required to compensate the Medical Expert by paying a non-attendance fee. This fee will need to be paid before a third appointment can be arranged. With insufficient notice that that the appointment was not going to go ahead the Medical Expert will still have incurred costs and this needs to reimbursed before your case can move forward. Average DNA (did not attend fees) are £50 so to try and avoid these please let us know immediately if your appointment does not work for you.

No, the Medical Expert is there to examine you to prepare an independent medical report for the purposes of your claim only. Whilst they may give recommendations in their report for future treatment they cannot provide any treatment as this would create a conflict of interest. If you are experiencing difficulties in managing your symptoms please seek medical advice as you would usually.

We advise you to plan your route well in advance of the appointment and familiarise yourself with the appointment location. However should any problems occur inside our office hours give us call on 0333 414 1988 and our team will be happy to help you. If it's outside our office hours please call the Medical Expert's number provided on your appointment letter. If you are driving PLEASE DO NOT CALL us until you have been able to stop the vehicle in a safe location.

Your medical report is an independent medical opinion on your injuries; it allows all parties to ensure you receive the right amount of compensation. The report will give details of:

• Facts about you (name, date of birth, employment status, etc.)
• The circumstances of the accident (when it took place, what the conditions were like, where you were positioned etc.)
• What injuries and symptoms you sustained and how your symptoms have developed over time, from the day of the accident to the present time
• Details of any treatment or advice you sought in relation to your injuries
• Any relevant past medical history
• Any relevant past accidents you have been involved in
• The Medical Expert's examination findings
• Details of how your symptoms have affected your everyday life
• The Medical Expert's opinion on your injuries and symptoms
• The Medical Expert's prognosis of when you will recover
• Recommendations of treatment, investigations and additional reports you may need
• Confirmation of the Medical Expert's qualifications that make them suitable to prepare the report
• A declaration and statement of truth from the Medical Expert confirming they have fulfilled their duties to the court in preparing an independent and compliant report.

We normally receive your report within 1-4 business days after your appointment. We then process your report and it goes through a robust checking process by our experienced team. Your report may also receive a clinical quality check from a member of our suitably qualified clinical team; these checks are undertaken randomly across a percentage of reports to ensure we maintain our high standards. If for any reason your report does not meet our expectations we will return to the Medical Expert for clarification and / or amendment (changes). Your report will normally be uploaded to the Official Injury Claims portal within 5 to 10 business days of your appointment. Please be assured if for any reason there is a delay, our team will be in touch to update you and ensure your report is produced as soon as possible.

The Official Injury Claims portal will ask you to check your report and confirm its contents are factually correct. The portal provides information on what you should check. As is explains on the portal you should only ask experts to amend factual errors. Examples of factual errors would be; incorrect name, incorrect profession, or your position in the vehicle is incorrect. Unfortunately if it is the Medical Expert's opinion you disagree with such as how long they have said it will take for you to recover, you cannot ask the Medical Expert to amend his opinion. The Expert's opinion is independent and for the Court and they cannot be swayed by the Claimant or the Compensator in order that the claim is dealt with fairly for all parties.

Your medical report is classed as personal sensitive information and therefore will be handled in line with our privacy notice which can be found here. You report will only be seen by those within our organisation that would need to access it for processing reasons.

Give us a call or drop us an e-mail - our team are the best people to advise you and can clarify any information, answer your questions or simply guide you in the right direction.

We currently accept payments via BACS and cheque. 

BACS Details:

• Account name - UK Independent Medical Limited
• Account number - 83411915
• Sort code - 20-37-63

Cheque Address:

UK Independent Medical Limited
Brenner House
Rainton Bridge Business Park
Houghton-Le-Spring
DH4 5RA

Please quote our reference or invoice number when making payments. Remittances can be sent to finance@ukindmed.com. 

As part of the arrangements under the OIC Portal, it is expected that the Compensator will pay UKIM for the medical report. You should not have to pay anything for our services. However, if you did not attend an arranged appointment, we can charge you a non-attendance fee for that cancelled or missed appointment. But we may decide not to charge depending on the circumstances.

If you require a VAT invoice or receipt of payment please request one at the time of payment. Alternatively a copy can be obtained by contacting finance@ukindmed.com.

BACS Details:

• Account name - UK Independent Medical Limited
• Account number - 83411915
• Sort code - 20-37-63

Please quote our reference or invoice number when making payments. Remittances can be sent to finance@ukindmed.com. 

You must pay those sums over to UKIM and we can e-mail you the details. The Compensator will have paid you in error.

You can send an e-mail to our Finance team at finance@ukindmed.com or give us a call on 0333 414 1988.

You can send an e-mail to our Finance team at finance@ukindmed.com or give us a call on 0333 414 1988.