A large part of MedCo’s role is to ensure the independence and quality of medical reports in personal injury claims for Whiplash. This includes maintaining the quality and value of training for medical experts through the accreditation process.

Medical experts must be accredited by MedCo before they can be selected to provide medical reports through the MedCO system.

MedCo’s use is determined by the RTA Small Claims Pre-Action Protocol and/or the Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury Claims in Road Traffic Accidents and it is the system enabling the provision of first fixed cost medical reports.

The Government’s Civil Procedure Rules require all medical experts completing the first fixed costs medical reports in low value soft tissue injury claims to complete accreditation training.

To become a MedCo-accredited medical expert, you need to register with MedCo and within the following nine months you must complete the online accreditation training. This takes approximately 30 to 40 hours. If you do not complete the accreditation within nine months your application will be rejected and you will need to start the registration and accreditation training again.

Once accredited, you will need to complete continuous profession development (CPD_ training each year to maintain accreditation. Introduced on 1st June 2019, this new requirement supplements existing accreditation training. Failure to complete CPD hours will lead to suspension.

There are eleven training modules which will take 30 to 40 hours to complete:

Module 1 – Introduction to Whiplash Associated Disorder
Module 2 – Occupants Kinematics
Module 3 – Assessment and Investigations
Module 4 – Symptoms of WAD/Effects of ADL
Module 5- Treatment
Module 6 – WAD recover and prognostic factors
Module 7 – Chronic Pain
Module 8 – Law and Procedure
Module 9 – Good Medical Practice and Medical Experts
Module 10 – Understanding MedCo
Module 11 – MoJ Whiplash Reforms

To access the training material, log on to your MedCo account at app.medco.org.uk and select the ‘Training’ option on your home page.

The CPD academic year runs from 1st June to 31st May each year.

For new medical experts, the annual CPD requirement starts at the beginning of the first CPD academic year after you complete accreditation training. So, if you finish accreditation training in Nov 2024, the CPD requirement runs from 1st June 2025.

Failure to complete the required CPD hours in any academic year will result in suspension which is only lifted when you complete the CPD shortfall form the previous year. Shortfall CPD hours do not count towards the CPD requirement for the current year.

If you do not complete the CPD shortfall within 12 months of the end of the academic year of shortfall you will be withdrawn from the MedCo system.

For further information on the Civil Procedure Rules on the Pre-Action Protocol for Low Value Personal Injury Claims in Road Traffic Accidents see Here

For more information on ICO registration, visit www.ico.org.uk.

For any questions about the accreditation scheme, please email: enquiries@medco.org.uk.