Can a single report cover both health and performance issues?

Yes, where both streams are live, a combined report addressing diagnosis, the relationship to performance, and the appropriate conditions on practice is often the most efficient approach.

How quickly can a report be delivered?

Standard turnaround is 1–2 weeks from receipt of the bundle and access to the assessee. Urgent reports can be delivered in 2–5 working days where a Crown Court trial date, tribunal listing or interim hearing requires it. We will tell you on day one whether the deadline is realistic.

How are fees calculated?

We agree a fixed fee for the report and any addendum, joint statement work and CMC/court attendance up front. Fees reflect the complexity, the volume of records and the urgency. We will provide a written quote that supports a Legal Aid prior authority application where required.

Can the expert be instructed as a Single Joint Expert?

Yes. The majority of our consultants accept SJE instructions and are experienced in dealing with joint letters of instruction, Part 35 questions from both sides, and joint reports with experts of like discipline.

Is in-person assessment essential?

Most assessments can be conducted by secure video, which keeps costs and timescales down and avoids travel. In-person assessment is arranged where the case calls for it, for example where capacity, malingering, or a child or learning-disabled assessee is involved, and across all the UK regions we cover.

What happens if the report is challenged at court?

The instructed expert remains responsible for the case end-to-end, including responding to Part 35 questions, attending the joint experts' discussion, signing the joint statement, and giving live evidence. There is no handover to a different expert at trial.

Case type

Fitness to Practise

Fitness to practise instructions involve professionals appearing before regulators (GMC, NMC, HCPC, SRA, GPhC and others) where psychiatric ill-health is alleged, contested, or relevant to mitigation and to ongoing fitness.

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Use this category when…

You need to map a court order or letter from counsel to the right report
You're confirming whether a psychiatric expert (rather than a psychologist) is the right discipline
You want a fixed quote and a realistic deadline before instructing

What to send with your enquiry

A short summary plus the items below is enough for us to match an expert and confirm the deadline — you don't need the full bundle to get a quote.

Short case summary and the questions you want answered
Hearing or listing date and jurisdiction
GP and psychiatric records (full set where available)
Witness statements, schedules of loss or threshold documents
Any prior expert reports
Court order granting permission to instruct (family / Court of Protection)

Overview

Fitness to practise instructions involve registered professionals, doctors, nurses, paramedics, pharmacists, social workers, solicitors, facing regulatory proceedings where psychiatric ill-health is alleged, contested, or relevant to mitigation. The report must satisfy the regulator's procedural rules and engage with the relevant indicative sanctions guidance.

Reports address current fitness to practise, prognosis with treatment, and the conditions on practice that would adequately protect the public.

Legal framework

Reports are prepared with reference to the relevant regulator's procedural rules and indicative sanctions guidance.

Psychiatric issues addressed

Depression, anxiety and burnout in regulated professionals
Substance use disorders
Trauma and reaction to investigation
Risk of repetition and prognosis

Questions you can put to the expert

Drop any of these straight into your letter of instruction.

Does the registrant have a psychiatric disorder affecting fitness to practise?
What is the prognosis and what conditions on practice would be appropriate?

Fitness to practise: areas we cover

Conduct cases with psychiatric overlay

Where conduct is in issue but a psychiatric disorder is said to have contributed, the report addresses the relationship between the disorder and the conduct, and the relevance to sanction.

Health concerns referrals

Reports for GMC, NMC and HCPC health-stream cases address the registrant's current diagnosis, treatment, insight and prognosis, and the conditions on practice, supervision, restriction on prescribing, restriction on procedures, that would adequately protect patients.

Solicitors Disciplinary Tribunal

Reports for the SDT and for the SRA address the same questions adapted to the legal regulatory framework and the mitigation principles in Bolton v Law Society and SRA v Sharma.

Substance misuse

Reports address the natural history of any substance use disorder, the registrant's engagement with treatment, recovery markers and the realistic conditions for safe return to practice.

What's in the report

Part 35 / FPR Part 25 / CrimPR statement of compliance, as applicable
Expert's CV and statement of independence
Detailed list of materials considered (records, statements, scans, prior reports)
Full history, mental state examination and collateral information
Diagnostic formulation referenced to ICD-11 / DSM-5-TR
Reasoned opinion on causation, apportionment, prognosis and treatment
Indicative treatment costings where requested
Statement of truth signed in the prescribed form

How we help

Same-day shortlist of suitable consultants once we receive a brief instruction
Choice of male or female assessor, and of sub-specialty, on every instruction
Fixed fees agreed up front; Legal Aid prior authority figures supported
Standard turnaround 1–2 weeks; urgent reports inside 5 working days where the diary allows
Joint reports, addendum reports, Part 35 questions and CMC attendance handled by the same expert
Remote (secure video) or in-person assessment across the UK

Frequently asked questions

Recommended services

Adult psychiatry Psychiatry

Need a psychiatric expert witness?

Tell us about your case and we'll match you to the right consultant, usually within 24 hours.

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