Programme : Programme Intro to Medico Legal Work Sept 2012
Cost – £65 Members £90 Non Members

Download an application form here Application Form Sept 12

For any other information, please email Virginia Daly on info@mlacp.org.uk

Present: Sue Edwards (Hon. Chair), Judith Bentley (Hon. Secretary) Brian
Simpson (Hon Treasurer), Susan Filson, Pauline Pope, Kate Sheehy, Kevin Reese,
Zena Schofield, Patricia Bartley, Jenny Archer, Katarzyna Czubak, Sarah Daniel,
Alison Phillips, Nicky Edwards, Sara Edmundson, Brigitt Bailey, Jackie Clifford,
Carol Mckay, Mary Harrison, Lorna Stybelska, Sandra Snell, Alison Fedeli, Jon
Graham, Gerry Harlow, Sue Paddison, Pamela Simpson, Will
Winterbotham, Malgorzata Lachut, Alison Fedeli & Alison Skinner,

1. Apologies:
Paul Errington, Caroline Dunn, Simon Ashton, Margaret Revie, Pabla Kaushalya, Jacqueline Crosby, Lousie Cousins, Nikki Adams, Liz Candy, Di Coggins, Juliet Weston, Janet Hornby, Di Quinlivan, Sarah Bond, Heather Epps, Eileen Kinley, Alice Pringle, Susan Curran & Jennifer Whittall.

2. Minutes of 13th AGM held on 19th November 2010:
These were agreed and signed as a true record and unanimously adopted, after being proposed by Pauline Pope and seconded by Lorna Stybelska.

3. Matters Arising
There were no matters arising.

4. Chair’s Annual Report:
Sue Edwards read her report; a copy of which will be posted on the website. Sue explained that she is standing down from the position of chair, which is being taken on by Sue Filson.

5. Programme Organiser’s Annual Report:
Susan Filson summarised the events that had been organised in 2011. There had been 3 courses, plus today’s event, all of which had been well attended. The topics were: Court Room Skills, Aquatic Therapy & Litigation, Introduction to Medico-Legal Work. Courses being planned for 2012 include a 2 Day Adult & Paediatric Neurological Medico-Legal Course and an Introductory Course, which will be held either in the North or the Midlands. There is also the possibility of running a combined day with Physio First. Sue thanked the committee members who had helped her with organising the programme and went onto say that she will be handing over the role, as she is taking on the role of Chair of MLACP.

6. Treasurer’s Annual Report:
Brian Simpson circulated copies of the accounts and spoke to his report, which is attached as an appendix to the minutes.
In summary there is a surplus, which is a consequence of an increased income brought about by an increase in the membership and income from courses. The surplus will be used to issue each member in 2012 free copies of the 4 Little Books published by the UK Register of Expert Witnesses.
The accounts were unanimously accepted after being proposed by Patricia Bartley and seconded by Kate Sheehy.

7. Public Relations Officer’s (PRO) Report:
Kevin Reese, who took over from Eileen Kinley as PRO, circulated copies of his report.

8. Election of Officers:
All the current members are willing to continue to serve. Acceptance of the committee was unanimous after being proposed by Pamela Simpson and seconded by Jackie Clifford. The committee will be as follows: Hon. Chair- Susan Filson, Hon Secretary- Judith Bentley, Hon Treasurer- Brian Simpson, PRO- Kevin Reese,
Diversity Officer & Web Site Coordinator–Kate Sheehy, Education Programme Officer – Paul Errington, Sue Edwards, Zena Schofield & Pauline Pope.
Offers to serve on the committee have been received from Sarah Daniel, Lorna Stybelska and Simon Ashton.

8. Amended Constitution:
Judith Bentley explained that minor amendments to the constitution were required by the CSP. This had become necessary for all such CSP organisations due to the replacement of the Clinical Interest/Occupational Groups (CI/OGs) by the Professional Networks. The draft of the amended version had been posted on the website in advance of the AGM.
There was a unanimous show of hands accepting the amended constitution.

9.0 Items brought to the attention of the Committee:
Two emails had been received by the secretary. One requested that consideration be
given to run courses in the North. The other was a request for a study day dealing
with legal updates for expert witnesses.

10.0 Date of Next AGM:
This will take place at the CSP 14, Bedford Row on Friday 9th November 2012

The meeting closed at 10.25am and was followed by the study day.

14th Annual General Meeting

25th November 2011

CHAIRMAN’S REPORT

Welcome to you all at this 14th Annual General Meeting of the Medico-Legal Association.

I would like to first of all introduce you to the committee members who have worked tirelessly on your behalf in the past year.

• Judith Bentley, our long serving and extremely well organised secretary
• Sue Filson, who will become our new chair as from today
• Kate Sheehy, diversity and technical officer and web site coordinator
• Brian Simpson, treasurer and editor of the newsletter / bulletin
• Paul Errington, programme organiser
• Kevin Rees, programme organiser and PRO
• Zena Schofield
• Pauline Pope.

In spite of these designated positions, all members of the committee assist with various tasks as required. For example, Pauline and Zena with admirable support from Kevin have been the main players organising what I hope you will find to be an extremely interesting programme for today.

I am sure all members will join me in thanking Miranda Hall, my PA for her invaluable contribution over the past two years. She has worked closely with Shane Freer to ensure the smooth running of the web page and updating the content as information arrives on her desk. I am sure you will have noticed the improvement and hopefully find this much easier to use. She has fielded all enquiries, forwarding them on to the appropriate committee member and continues to maintain the membership list, politely requesting the relevant details when these are omitted! Miranda will be handing over the baton to Virginia Daly, Sue Filson’s PA as Sue takes over the chair of this organisation.

Professional networks have now superseded the clinical interest groups and MLACP is within the occupational group. Unlike some of the more clinically based groups this was a fairly straightforward procedure but we have had to make minor adjustments to the constitution. Judith will be highlighting these later in the meeting and will ask for your ratification. Difficulties arose with the CIGs that did not have 100 members as this was the criteria for being accepted within the Professional Networks. With a membership of over 180 there were no difficulties for MLACP.

As always, I would like to reiterate the importance of data protection. All physiotherapists who handle patient’s records need to be aware that they are required to be registered under the Data Protection Act. There have been further developments over the past few months. Various forms of password protection and encryption are now being used to safeguard the client and all documentation is now sent via recorded delivery. At the present time, this relates primarily to the NHSLA but I feel sure this will expand to include all instructing solicitors.

There have been key developments over the past year, perhaps the most notable being the loss of immunity for expert witnesses which Chris Pamplin will be discussing this afternoon and the capping of expert fees.

Last year I referred to Lord Justice Jackson’s proposal’s on litigation costs which was published in December 2009. As I am sure you will be aware, this has now been taken forward and as of 3rd October 2011, all legally aided cases will be paid at an hourly rate of £81. Although there is provision for ‘exceptional circumstances’, I am not aware of how these will be determined. At the recent Annual Bond Solon Expert Witness Conference I posed the question, why were physiotherapists to be paid £81 an hour whether they resided in London or out of London, whereas speech and language therapists were on £90 in London and £99 out of London and occupational therapists were £68 in or out of London. The panel suggested that I contact the LSC directly but I confess I have not as yet done so. Even more bizarrely, I have a quote from a Consultant Neurologist: “a London Accident and Emergency Consultant’s time is valued more than a London Neurologist’s but less than an out of London Neurologist, whilst a Neuroradiologist is allowed more than everyone else! That you are able to pay a Neurologist outside London £153/h but one in London only £90/h is also completely nonsensical and unjustifiable”. As you can see, there is considerable opposition to these changes. If anyone has any specific queries regarding this, I would be happy to discuss them during the lunch break.

I trust that you all have an enjoyable and informative day.

Sue Edwards
Chair

VAT is applicable to most businesses in the UK. If you believe you need to register for VAT you will charge your customers VAT and be able to redeem the VAT you are charged by others.

You should register if:

‘your turnover for the previous 12 months has gone over a specific limit – called the ‘VAT threshold’ (currently £73,000) or you think your turnover will soon go over this limit’.

To register for VAT you should start by downloading form VAT 1 and note that from 2012 all VAT transactions will be conducted online.

http://search2.hmrc.gov.uk/kb5/hmrc/forms/view.page?formid=986&record=OmPa6ruQM2U

The Good News

HPs have exemption from tax if the income derived from the service has ‘the primary purpose of the services is the protection, maintenance or restoration of the health of the person concerned.’ VAT Notice 701/57.

Or in the case of motor insurance:

‘… where medical services are provided under a policy to assist enabling an injured motorist to return to full health and/or work. (Note – this does not include medicals undertaken for DVLA purposes to ensure initial or continued fitness to drive which are liable to VAT at the standard rate). Any other medical service provided in connection with an insurance policy where the principal aim is to assist in restoring the health of the individual.‘

The Bad News

Unfortunately medical legal work is VAT taxable at the full rate:

‘If his includes such work as medicals, reports and expert witness testimony for the judicial system and is considered to be taxable. This is the case even where the services supplied are for the purpose of the Family Courts and where the ultimate decision arrived at by the court may concern the well-being of an individual. This is because the principal purpose of the services supplied is to enable the court to take a decision.’

The Mixed News

There is a VAT allowance called the Flat Rate VAT Scheme which enables small businesses (currently under 150 to 187k depending) to pay a flat rate VAT below the 20% threshold. Unfortunately the calculation for this includes income derived from activities which may also be exempt from VAT, i.e. traditional private physiotherapy treatment work. Whether you would benefit from this scheme depends upon your total turnover of VAT inclusive and VAT exempt earnings and the relative mix between the two. For further information go to:

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/vat/start/schemes/flat-rate.htm#1

Closing Thought

This guide is to be considered as general advice only. Each individual’s business and personal taxation can be complex and unless very straight forward we suggest the appointment of a good accountant. Nov 2011.

Other Sources

http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/vat/forms-rates/rates/goods-services.htm

and follow links:
1. health, education, welfare and charities

2. Health services provided by registered doctors, dentists, opticians, pharmacists and other health professionals VAT Notice 701/57

3. 2.3 What services performed by health professionals are exempt from VAT?

General Principles

If you handle or store data in respect of patients there are certain legal and professional obligations you must consider and apply in respect of the Data Protection and Freedom of Information Act. Generally they fall within 8 established principles, which for a fuller understanding you may wish to visit:

http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/data_protection/the_guide.aspx

Do I need to Register?

If you do not ‘process’ or ‘control’ information regarding your clients on a computer it is not necessary to register for the data protection. If in doubt it may be useful to check using the ‘self assessment’ questionnaire on the webpage at:

http://www.ico.gov.uk/for_organisations/data_protection/notification/need_to_notify.aspx

If you fall within the criterion for notification you can do so by registering on 01625 545740, or online on http://www.ico.gov.uk/notify/4b.html

Are there any other considerations resulting in my work as an Expert Witness?

If your clients have connections with the NHS eg NHSLA, your data handling may present a different set of obligations over and above those set out by the Data Protection Act.

1. Good practice in general requires hard copy documents especially specific to a patient’s identity and medical issues should be sent and if necessary    returned by registered post.

2. Hard copies not requiring return should be shredded and disposed of immediately after their use has been served by the expert.

3. Electronic data received (as in point 1), should have a suitable encryption programme which protects the patient sensitive data from cyber molestation. And here is the difficulty, commissioning solicitors do not use the same encryption software and experts are required to have at their terminal end, the same software to enable the safe transaction of the information. MLACP members have found this requires varying degrees of complexity and can be a difficult and time consuming requirement of the NHSLA’s procedure.

Constitution – Draft amendment June (2) 2011

Cost:
£55 – MLACP Members
£90 – Non MLACP Members

The topic of this one day meeting is of great importance to ALL therapists working in both public and private sectors.

Speakers will cover topics relating to Health Professions regulation; Loss of Immunity on expert witness practice and PHSO – Its Role in NHS Complaints and the role of the Clinical Advisor.

For further details please contact: Pauline Pope: p.m.pope@btinternet.com

Download Course Programme: AGM Prog 2011

Download Application form: Application form Nov 2011