Member Article

Newcastle's On Medical shows strong growth to challenge the UK's medico-legal market

Newcastle-based On Medical is aiming to capitalise on a sustained period of growth by doubling its workforce, as it sets out to challenge the major names in personal injury and medical reporting.

Over the past decade, the company has seen turnover increase to £12.5m and is now aiming to become on of the UK’s leading and most respected independent medico-legal providers.

Working in conjunction with the legal and insurance industries, On Medical provides medico-legal reporting, diagnostics services and rehabilitation service to assist those who have been involved in road traffic accidents or with personal injury claims.

Earlier this year, the firm restructured its business model in response to a raft of Government reforms which meant it would no longer be possible for claimant lawyers to source reports from an individual or organisation with which they had a financial link and resulted in the introduction of MedCo, a portal which randomly allocates medical experts to claims relating to soft tissue injuries.

Ian Scanlan, Head of Business Development at On Medical said: “The introduction of MedCo has been one of the most significant shake ups to the claims market in recent times and one which was intended to ensure more independence and competition in the industry and reduce the potential for conflicts of interests between closely associated parties.”

Through Medco, a claimant’s legal representative will be supplied with seven randomly generated medical report providers selected on the basis of various factors including geographic location; its introduction came as part of a series of measures to improve transparency of costs in relation to whiplash injuries.

Ian continued: “The claims industry has often attracted criticism and been associated with several negative misconceptions; one of the aims of MedCo was to remove any ambiguity regarding the extent of a person’s injuries and the resulting treatment costs involved being reported by a medical expert and their relationship to and the interests of the legal firms referring the client.”

He said: “However, the question now being asked by some is whether this system could see an individual receiving a lower standard of care as legal firms are being provided with options which can vary widely in the level of expertise they can offer and the size of the operation and the information that they receive in these areas for the short-listed companies is limited.”

According to Ian Scanlan, this places the onus on the medical reporting companies themselves to firmly establish their reputation amongst the legal and insurance sectors independently - and it’s a challenge which On Medical is rising to, with continued investment earmarked towards extensive staff recruitment, training and development over the coming year to boost the current 35 strong team and 12 physiotherapists it employs, along with access to a network of medical experts nationwide.

He concluded: “Those operators who previously relied on long-standing relationships will now have to rethink their strategy. As a firm we are confident in the high level of expertise that we house and can offer those in the legal and insurance sectors and their clients; we are positive that we will build upon the success of the last twelve months and continue to build upon our reputation as one of the leading names in the country for medico-legal reporting.”