Doctors want Gov to control whiplash claims

observations_from_a_hill

Government could state atos be required to give independent medical advice in claims of less than £Xk.

pedro123456

The IC should pay higher fees to the GP, that would improve their knowledge base :rotfl:

Missus_Miggins

The number of people making claims whether false or otherwise has caused me a problem because last year someone went into the back of my car and I developed whiplash. The GP was reluctant to believe me and tested me for various other things over a period of many months. All these things came back negative, consequently I have been suffering for almost a year with pain and muscle weakness in my jaw, neck and shoulders, plus tinnitus caused by the inflammation and have only just been referred to a physiotherapist.

I have no intention of making any claims, I just want to feel better. The amount of money spent on my tests etc was money wasted. But I blame those making claims for this as it puts GP's off diagnosing and treating it.

Quentin

Missus_Miggins wrote: »

... The GP was reluctant to believe me and tested me for various other things over a period of many months.......

Next time the gp doesn't believe you or you are unhappy ask for a second opinion rather than go through a year of unneccessary pain.

Missus_Miggins

At one point she said it was my thyroid and as I have an underactive thyroid I thought maybe she was right as a blood test revealed it was off at the time. She said it was just a coincidence it was the same time as the car accident. I was shocked it could leave you so ill but I eventually saw a consultant and he said there was no way it could be my thyroid. I went and saw a different GP and she prescribed anti-inflammatories for 2 months and if no better to go back which is what I did. I should have trusted my gut instinct, it was TOO much of a coincidence to have started right after the accident!!

But the point is that GP's probably won't believe you initially thinking you just want to make a claim.

dalesrider

Maybe this is a bit too simple..

If you don't go to hospital from the accident. Then you can't at a later date claim whiplash.

Parking_Trouble

dalesrider wrote: »

Maybe this is a bit too simple..

If you don't go to hospital from the accident. Then you can't at a later date claim whiplash.

The symptoms may take a while to present themselves.

I think people should have to take their case to court. I am sure it will reduce the number of claims. Let's see how many people can look a judge in the eye and explain their pain.

BertTheRaccoon

alistair.long wrote: »

they say your insurance increases by about £50 due to claims, so why does the insurance go up more each year

Cause of the premiums going up, well there are many. Here's a few;

1- Insurers cutting each other's throats with premium price wars for years, often underwriting premiums at a loss for the first year, hoping you'll be too lazy to shop about at renewal.

2- Solvency II - new regs coming into play dictating insurers need to keep more capital reserves. Their property portfolios are performing poorly as are their stockmarket investments, so joe public gets mugged

3- Insurers are poorly run giant institutions, poor decisions made day in day out. Massively under resourced claims depts with not enough bums on seats. Largely caused by stupid attempts to save a few quid on wages bills, which is way outweighed by the killing they then get by not settling claims and having colossal backlogs

4- Insurers pumping the greatest percentage of personal injury claims in the system themselves, which is why the number of injury claims has increased compared to the number of actual road accidents falling due to their staff being incentivised to ask about injury and "convert" cases. Some very big brokers even have their claims reporting lines answered by law firms!

5- Insurers selling data on - which is where those ridiculous text messages then come from.

dacouch

Lee_Jones wrote: »

5- Insurers selling data on - which is where those ridiculous text messages then come from.

They're sent by chosing random mobile numbers and from comparison sites as well

BertTheRaccoon

Indeed, and who owns the 2 biggest insurance price comparision sites?

Comparethemarket - Budget
Confused - Admiral

Admiral made £24m last year from referral fees for injury and hire co referrals/credit repairs.

RSA had their own little scam going on legging up fellow insurers with a 10% uplift on repairs.

They are all at it.

Nobody's premiums will come down when they've finished playing with the injury lawyers and claims management bandits. There will be another excuse.