An injured person’s recovery must be “the primary goal for all”, says APIL’s chief executive as the association relaunches its Best Practice Guide on Rehabilitation.
The new edition focusses on the benefits of early collaboration on rehabilitation between claimant lawyers and defendant insurers.
“The rehabilitation guide is an essential part of a personal injury lawyer’s toolbox. It is extremely encouraging to have comments from insurers on working together early on in the process because helping injured people to recover as best they can must be the primary goal for us all,” said Mike Benner chief executive of APIL (the Association of Personal Injury Lawyers) ahead of the guide’s relaunch at APIL’s Catastrophic Injuries Conference in Birmingham on Wednesday 15 May.
The guide is designed to be read and used in conjunction with the framework provided by the Rehabilitation Code 2015.
“The guide has a very practical approach, with a process map and a range of case studies, and can be applied to all levels of PI case to varying degrees. But we recognise that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to rehabilitation. We’ve included helpful examples and points to consider throughout the rehabilitation process, which both lawyers and their clients will find reassuring,” said Mike.
Andrew Hibbert, partner at Clyde & Co, speaking about early collaboration on rehabilitation in the guide, says: “The people and families at the heart of these claims have had their worlds turned upside down. We owe it to them to maximise the impact of rehabilitation and to remove conflict and friction wherever possible.”
Ben Hibbs, head of technical claims at LV, also says in the guide: “At LV=/Allianz we passionately believe that we should place the injured individual at the heart of the process and work collaboratively with all parties to make sure effective rehabilitation is pro-actively utilised to maximise their potential recovery and quality of life.”
Michelle Cresswell, partner at CFG Law, said: “I have seen personally how working collaboratively with other professionals equally committed to early rehabilitation can have a significant impact on our client’s recovery.”
The guide is exclusive to APIL members and covers everything from how to discuss rehabilitation with a client to what to look for when selecting a case manager.
The foreword has been written by Victoria Lebrec, a lay member on APIL’s executive committee, who had to have her leg amputated after being run over by a skip lorry as she cycled to work.
She says having access to rehabilitation at the earliest opportunity is paramount to recovery. She explains how this did not happen in her case. It meant she struggled with an ill-fitting NHS prosthetic leg, and it was more than a year after she was injured before she had access to key private treatment.
“Countless other people, who suffer devastating injuries through no fault of their own, find themselves in the position that I did. The very least they should expect is the best treatment possible to help them cope and recover, and get their lives back on track,” she said.