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COVID-19

STATEMENT

At present we are only offering remote video assessments.

At the start of the Covid-19 pandemic the Government advised that, aside from essential and key workers, the workforce should work from home wherever possible. At this point TFPA made the decision that, despite there being no legal precedent for undertaking Expert Witness work remotely or the challenges that could be made following an assessment, this type of work would be not only possible, but would be more appropriate to be undertaken remotely.

TFPA has now been successfully offering remote expert psychology assessments remotely for 6 months. Feedback from both claimants and clients has been very positive regarding the quality of our assessments, the resultant reports produced and the process of engaging in remote assessments. In addition, a number of claimants have also indicated an unwillingness to undertake face to face appointments.

In August 2020, the Government changed its guidance regarding remote working and gave employers a greater level of control in determining whether it is both safe and appropriate to return to face to face contact.

We are proud to be a company which places an emphasis on the wellbeing and safety not only of both our employees and clients but also of the wider community. We take the duty of care that we hold as health care professionals extremely seriously.

Following guidance from the Government and Public Health England, we have undertaken risk assessments as required for each of the venues from which we operate, and considered the type of assessments we do.

We undertake psychological assessments, not medical examinations, and therefore there is an absolute absence of need for any form of physical examination.

Psychological assessments take a minimum of 45 minutes in an enclosed and often poorly ventilated room, where the social distancing requirements may not be possible. We undertake a number of different appointments with clients during a day thus putting clients at a greater risk, hence exposing them to a greater range of unknown people and people from multiple households. We have also taken into consideration the impact of PPE (i.e. the new government requirement for both claimant and expert to be wearing face masks) on the quality, reliability and validity of the highly specialist psychological assessments that we undertake, including the impact of this on the court process.

We have also received guidance from relevant professional bodies such as the British Psychological Society, Health and Care Professions Council and Association of Clinical Psychologists in the United Kingdom.

Having taken into account all of the above factors, we have made the decision that it is in the best interest of our service and clients to continue to offer only remote Expert Witness Psychological Assessments. We believe that by doing this, we can offer the safest service whilst maintaining the highest quality service to all.

Key Benefits

The benefits of continuing to operate in this way are many and include:

Being able to offer clients a greater flexibility in appointments (which aren’t dependent on availability at a set clinic location)

Being able to offer a range of secure platforms for video/remote assessments (e.g. Skype, Whatsapp, Zoom, Facetime….).

The client can complete the assessment in a comfortable place where they feel “safe” and more relaxed.

Elimination of additional travel time both to and from the assessment venue (increases convenience and requires less time to be taken off work).

The client will not be required to wait outside the building prior to the appointment times (none of our potential venues currently have waiting areas).

Elimination of the exacerbation or triggering of increased anxiety levels or distress caused by (for example) travelling (which is experienced in a significant number of claimants we work with).

Enables peace of mind in relation to concerns around contracting Covid-19 (this is eliminated in relation to a remote assessment process).

Reduction in the need for appointments to be cancelled at late notice due to uncertainty or concerns around whether either the Psychologist or claimant is experiencing Covid-19 symptoms. This is particularly pertinent given we are approaching cold and flu season, and also given that approximately 30% of people with Covid-19 are asymptomatic with one trial finding that 69% of people with Covid-19 had no symptoms at the time of testing (ref 4).

Eliminate the need to cancel appointments due to local lockdown measures should they be put in place with little notice; remote assessments can continue to go ahead as planned regardless.

Pre-interview assessment processes such as requiring the client to complete a comprehensive risk assessment form, or taking the client’s temperature on arrival, will not be required to ascertain whether a claimant does not have any risk factors evident which would deem it unsafe to attend the appointment (this additional assessment process would incur additional time and financial costs).

No contact tracing or self-isolation will be required by either the Expert or claimant through remote assessments (thus no client contact details will be shared as required through Track and Trace systems, no time off work will be required by the client as a result of the assessment process).

We believe that it is paramount to our work that both the Expert and claimant are able to see facial expressions throughout the assessment. This is now only possible through remote means due to government requirements with regards to face masks.

Information for our Client's peace of mind

As a consequence of restrictions arising out of the Covid-19 pandemic, the use of remote psychological assessments is being recognised as an acceptable method of assessment and has been sanctioned as such by HM Courts and Tribunal Service. It has been acknowledged that remote hearings, and by implication, remote psychological assessments within judicial proceedings will likely become the norm for the foreseeable future (ref 1).

Psychologists working as expert witnesses continue to remain subject to the procedure rules in relation to acting as an expert witness in the civil, criminal and family courts.

Recent empirical research has indicated that psychological assessments conducted remotely (via smartphone or tablet) have been shown to be as accurate as an evaluation as those completed face to face in the assessment of trauma (ref 2 & 3).

ACPUK has recently delivered guidance which continues to state that where ever possible the work of a psychologist should be done remotely (ref 4).

We are able to offer guidance to claimants on working remotely including how to set this up, offer back up support should difficulties be encountered prior to or at the time of assessment and talk them through the process.

Psychology assessments do NOT require any form of physical assessment that requires direct contact with a client.

Should the Expert deem it unsuitable or inappropriate to continue or commence a psychology assessment via remote means they will contact the client as soon as this is indicated.

Specific consent will be obtained from both the clients and their representatives to ensure that they are happy to proceed with a remote assessment. Should either party choose not to accept the offer of a remote assessment, this decision will be respected.

Best Practice

We understand that the Society of Clinical Injury Lawyers, NHS Resolution and Action Against Medical Accidents and other signatories have produced a “best practice” guide which contains the following comments on medical examinations of clients for condition and prognosis reports:

"It is inevitable in the current circumstances that face -to-face examinations will be difficult to arrange and undesirable, given the Government’s guidance for travel. Parties should not attempt to pressure Claimants to attend such appointments... Both parties should consider and promote the use of remote/virtual examinations wherever possible to ensure cases proceed. If both parties are intending to call upon the evidence of an expert of like discipline, then unless otherwise agreed both examinations should take place utilising the same basis to facilitate the examination; face to face or remote/virtually".

On this basis, and taking into account the factors listed above, we will be continuing to only offer remote video appointments until further notice.

References

Cream, P., Newns, K., Addy, K., & French, L. (2020) Face to face working in the time of COVID-19: considerations for clinical psychologists. Association of Clinical Psychologists, United Kingdom, August 2020

Morina, N., Ewers, S.M., Passardi, S et al (2017). Mental health assessments in refugees and asylum seeker; evaluation of a tablet-assisted screening software. Conflict and Health, 11, 18 doi.org/10.1186/s13031-017-0120-2

Price, M., Kuhn, E., Hoffman, J. & Acierno, R (2015). Comparison of the PTSD checklist (PCL) administered via a mobile device relative to a paper form. Journal of Traumatic Stress, 28 (5)

References

MacDonald, A (2020). The Remote Access Family Court. Courts and Tribunal Judiciary. Available from: https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/The-Remote-Access-Family-Court-Version-4-Final-16.04.20.pdf