Case Studies

Nottingham University Hospitals

I first applied for OETT funding when my free paper abstract was accepted to be presented at the ISPO 14th World Congress in Hyderbad, India.

Having just graduated, the support OETT offered me to participate in the Congress was exceptional and eased the financial aspect of attending such a worthwhile event.

For me, attending and presenting at the Congress was an achievement which has given me a whole new sense of enthusiasm towards my profession. There was a whole range of topics, information and new innovations and I definitely feel I came home more enlightened.

Knowing that OETT support exists, I feel encouraged in furthering my knowledge base and skills.

Thank you OETT.

Neuro-orthotics Study Day – 9 November 2013
With an audience consisting mainly of physiotherapists with facilitators from both orthotics (Paul Charlton & Duncan Marchbanks) and neurophysiotherapy (Richard Sealey) this was a great opportunity for a day’s learning, debate and discussion; theoretical and practical in the arena of Neuro-orthotics.

The ever important refresher on “biomechanics and gait in the states of recovery following neurological insult” was enthusiastically presented to focus us on the topic of the day with mention of difference specialists techniques. This was followed by principles of interventions with input from all.

A quick overview of SWIFT casting – more on its way for those that will be attending the Stroke Conference – highlighting its economic benefits and quick turnaround sounded promising in this presentation.

Paul Charlton’s self designed Hemi’ test was included in the “Practical assessment and outcome measures” presentation, along with suggestions and examples of a clinical assessment record for MDT documentation.

“Therapeutic clinical reasoning for orthotic management in neurorehabilitation” provoked debate on protocols for resting splints and the value of any muscle recruitment versus none.

The importance of communicating closely with other professions as an MDT approach was highlighted as resulting in a more rounded input giving better results, this included examples and suggestions for documentation.

The final part of the day included two patients divided between the attendees and the opportunity for questions and discussions. All in all a very worthwhile day at a reasonable cost.

Expert Witness Intermediate Report Writing Course (1 day)
25th February 2014

I was approached by a solicitor and asked if I would write an expert witness report for one of their clients who had a drop foot and leg length discrepancy following a surgical procedure. I had never done one before and after talking to 2 colleagues who regularly write expert witness reports, I realised there was much more to it than just writing an assessment report. I bought some books on writing medico-legal reports and scanned the internet for information. I read that the large majority of medical expert reports in civil claims is inadequate and fails to serve its proper purpose. I didn’t want my report to fall into this camp. I hence enrolled on the report writing course.

The course was arranged by the Expert Witness Institute and taught by Lynden Alexander who is a communication skills consultant, specialising in forensic communication and has trained over 5000 expert witnesses. The course content was very full with lots of examples of good and bad reports. We were given templates for our area of expertise (the other participants were from all sorts of professions, not only medical). We learnt how the particular use of words is vital in legal cases e.g.” in my opinion…” is good, “I think…” is bad; we learnt which declaration and statement of truth needs to be included in the report and where to find up to date protocols from the Civil Justice Council. Very important is that the expert witness has a Duty to the Court and not to the instructing solicitor.

Having started with no clue on legal matters, the course gave me confidence and information on writing medico-legal reports. I have now completed 1 expert witness report and 2 advisory reports (which are less detailed than the expert witness reports) and have had good feedback from the instructing solicitors.

Many thanks to the OETT for providing the funding to allow me to learn this skill