The government has been warned that the centrepiece of its scheme for reducing whiplash fraud will not be ready to begin work as scheduled next month.
Under the accreditation arrangements for the MedCo scheme, medical practitioners must complete training before 6 April if they want to be part of independent panels of experts allowed to diagnose soft tissue injuries.
But following an overhaul of accreditation training, those yet to complete it were told last week they must go back to the beginning and start again.
A MedCo spokesman said 132 experts have completed training, but the Gazette understands up to 900 more now face a race against time.
A source involved in the accreditation process said the scheme could face a ‘dearth’ of people ready to diagnose whiplash injuries after 6 April.
MedCo has come under scrutiny by many and for various reasons since coming into force. Alarmingly under the accreditation arrangements for the MedCo scheme, medical practitioners must complete training before 6 April this year. When you consider only 132 experts have completed training to date with up to 900 more to have the training this is a real race against time and I suspect this will have an adverse impact on Claimants being examined.
