Are you looking for a medicolegal report for yourself, or for a client?
Then look no further! At Eton Psychiatrists, we have experts in report writing. We cover a wide range of needs such as: mental capacity, employment law, housing, and immigration matters.
We understand that you may be on a tight schedule, as well as the importance offering assessments soon after instruction, and completing reports promptly. Your expert will be on hand to provide a high quality psychiatric report for you, or your client, whatever your mental health difficulty. Please read on to learn more about our medicolegal services.
Please fill out the attached medicolegal assessment request form and email it to info@etonpsychiatrists.co.uk. This will then be passed on to the most appropriate expert, and we will aim to respond to your request within 72 hours. Our response will include all of the information you will need to help you to decide whether or not to proceed with an assessment including: the CV of your chosen expert, a detailed quote for the work, and a timeline for assessment and completion of the report. Our fees are charged at £200 per hour.
The number of hours quoted will largely depend on the number of pages of documents that are required to be read, as well as the number of instructions to be addressed in the report. We know that sometimes cases can be complex, and best discussed in more detail. Your expert will be happy to call you or meet
Please send your Letter of Instruction and bundle of documents to us, as soon as you can, so that the expert has ample time to review them prior to your assessment. Most assessments will be completed in one sitting, and assessments tend to last around 2 hours. In some cases, your expert may suggest additional appointments, or interviewing others to help improve the quality of your report. For example, this could include speaking with a relative, or a carer about your mental health difficulties. Any further suggested work would only be completed with your expressed consent, and would be fully costed beforehand, to allow you to make the right decision.
Your expert will give you a deadline by which the report will be completed. Most reports can be completed within 2 weeks of the assessment. However, more complex reports may take longer. If you require a report more urgently, please discuss this with our team, and we will do our very best to meet your needs.
After your report has been completed, please read it carefully, and if you have any corrections or changes you would like to be considered, please send them to us within 2 weeks of receiving your report. Your expert will respond to these requests as soon as possible.
A medicolegal report is a document that is produced by a medical expert. In mental health, this tends to be a psychiatrist or a psychologist. Reports tend to be compiled following a review of documents, such as medical records, and an assessment of the individual. Medicolegal reports can have many uses, but often tend to be used in relation to court cases, or employment matters. You may benefit from a psychiatric medicolegal report if you have a mental health condition, or think you may have a mental health condition, and this is relevant to any legal or employment proceedings you are engaged in.
You may benefit from a psychiatric medicolegal report if you have a mental health condition, or think you may have a mental health condition, and this is relevant to any legal or employment proceedings you are engaged in.
The Mental Capacity Act (MCA) is designed to protect people who may lack the mental capacity to make decisions for themselves. This could be in relation to making decisions about care and treatment, but also could cover decisions ranging from what to buy in the weekly shop, to life changing decisions, such as whether or not to move into a care home.
The MCA has safeguards to ensure that individuals are given every opportunity to make a capacitous decision. Just because someone may make unwise decisions, it does not necessarily mean that they lack capacity. If someone is unable to understand, retain, weigh up or communicate important information, then they may lack capacity to make that decision.
If someone lacks the capacity to make a decision, then the MCA requires that others must make a decision in their best interests. The MCA allows for people to decide who can make decisions on their behalf in the future, should they lack capacity, This is called a Lasting Power of Attorney or Enduring Power of Attorney. Any decision that is made on behalf of someone lacking capacity, should be the least restrictive option, to maximise that person’s independence.
Mental Capacity assessments may be needed for making a range of important decisions, such as about accommodation, finances and treatment. Such assessments are often not covered as part of standard NHS care, and so a formal medicolegal Mental Capacity Assessment may be required.
The Equality Act (EA) came into force in 2010, and brought together many different pieces of legislation, relating to equal pay, sex, race and disability discrimination. The aim of the EA is to protect citizens from unfair treatment on grounds of ‘protected characteristics’ and to promote a fairer, and more equal society.
The EA makes it against the law to discriminate against anyone because of their age, gender, or gender reassignment, marital status, disability, race, religion, sexual orientation or due to pregnancy.
The EA protects you from discrimination in many different environments, including in work, in education, when renting property, and when using public services.
You may be one of the 15 million people classed as disabled by the EA.1 Mental health conditions make up a substantial proportion of the burden of disability in the UK. If your mental health condition causes you substantial difficulties in performing day to day activities for over one year, then you may be protected by the EA.
If you are engaged in legal or employemnt proceedings where you are claiming discrimination on grounds of disability, due to mental health problems, it is likely that a medicolegal psychiatric report will help to strengthen your case.