Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this matter. During its 18 month work programme, which concluded in July 2018, the Personal Injuries Commission, PIC, delivered two reports with 14 recommendations. The first report of PIC, published in December 2017, made four recommendations. The first recommendation was the adoption of a standardised approach to the examination of personal injuries. The Personal Injuries Assessment Board, PIAB, has rolled out a standardised template to its independent medical panel. I understand Insurance Ireland has distributed the medical reporting template to its members. The second recommendation was promotion of best practice training for medical professionals completing personal injury medical reports, and PIAB has engaged with relevant providers on this. The third recommendation relates to the book of quantum, which has been superseded by PIC's second report, which recommends that a judicial council, when established, be requested by the Minister for Justice and Equality to compile judicial guidelines for appropriate general damages for various types of personal injury. The fourth recommendation was that relevant injury data be collated and published by appropriate bodies. PIAB has since published data in line with this recommendation.

The second and final report made a further ten recommendations. I expect that they should be implemented as soon as possible by the relevant bodies. Recommendations Nos. 1 and 2 relate to the judicial council described earlier. Recommendation No. 3 proposed that the Law Reform Commission bring forward legislation to cap damages that a court may award, and this work is under way. Recommendation No. 4 provides for the development and roll-out of best practice standard treatment plans for soft tissue injuries and is being worked on by the HSE. Recommendation No. 5 proposed that no offer of settlement or payment of a personal injury claim can be made unless and until a detailed medical report has been obtained. Insurance Ireland has advised that it is standard practice for insurers to base personal injury claims settlements on medical reports. Recommendation No. 6 requires claimants to give prompt notification, within one month, of any potential injury so that a proper investigation may be undertaken. This was addressed through the Personal Injuries Assessment Board (Amendment) Act 2019.

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