Frequently Asked Questions

Yes. Doctors can work with us as part of our expert network or use our administrative support services for medico-legal work. We help doctors manage diary coordination, clinic administration, correspondence, documentation, report-flow tasks, and work received through solicitors or medical reporting agencies. Our support is designed to help experts focus on their clinical and medico-legal opinion while we manage the surrounding administration.

We can help arrange medico-legal reports through independent medical experts, including condition and prognosis reports, liability-related reports, expert witness reports, addendum reports, rehabilitation-related reports, court-ready reports, and CPR Part 35 reports. The exact report type depends on the instruction, the case details, and the expert required.

No. We do not provide medical advice, legal advice, diagnosis, treatment opinions, or clinical opinions. Independent medical experts provide the expert opinion. Solicitors provide legal advice to their clients. Our role is to manage the administration, coordination, liaison, logistics, appointments, documentation, and report-flow around the medico-legal instruction.

Yes, we can review urgent medico-legal instructions and, where possible, prioritise the administrative process. Urgency should be explained at enquiry stage, along with the deadline, case type, location, records position, and required expert. We do not guarantee urgent completion because timescales depend on expert availability, file readiness, and the practical requirements of the case.

We support medico-legal instructions across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Expert availability depends on the specialty, case type, location, consultation format, and diary capacity. Where suitable, some matters may be considered for remote, video, telephone, or records-based review, but this is always assessed case by case.

Yes. Our Find an Expert route is designed to help solicitors search for or enquire about suitable independent medical experts through HKO. The search and matching process may consider practical details such as specialty, case type, medical issue, location, consultation suitability, availability, and adult or paediatric suitability. Enquiries and instructions remain managed through HKO.

We consider the case type, medical issue, injury details, claimant location, required expertise, expert availability, and any deadline or urgency. Where a narrow sub-specialty is important, we look beyond broad labels and consider the specific clinical area involved, such as upper limb, lower limb, spinal injury, neurology, psychiatry, pain management, or other relevant expertise. Our aim is to help you reach a suitable independent expert through a clear, professionally managed route.

We usually need the case type, injury or medical issue, claimant location, urgency or deadline, relevant medical records, and the solicitor’s instruction letter where applicable. The more complete the enquiry is, the easier it is to identify a suitable expert, confirm practical requirements, and avoid delays later in the process.

Yes. If you already have a preferred consultant or specialist in mind, you can tell us at enquiry stage. We will try to accommodate the request where possible, subject to the expert’s availability, suitability, and the requirements of the instruction. If that expert is not available or suitable for the specific matter, we can help consider an appropriate alternative.

Once an enquiry is received, we review the case information, consider the appropriate expert or specialty, confirm the relevant terms, coordinate booking requirements, manage communication, support document exchange, and monitor the report-flow process. We also handle administrative follow-ups, appointment coordination, rescheduling where needed, and report chasing so the matter remains organised.

Our confirmed public specialty areas include Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, Neurology, Psychiatry, Psychology, Pain Management, Spinal, Physiotherapy, Cardiologist, Gynaecologist, Upper Limb Specialist, Lower Limb Specialist, Rheumatologist, and Neurosurgeon. Our wider expert matching may also consider more specific sub-specialties or case requirements where relevant to the instruction.

Yes, GP medico-legal experts may be relevant for first-stage medico-legal reports and certain general medical reporting needs within a solicitor-led case. This does not mean we provide routine GP healthcare, public GP appointments, or general medical treatment. Any GP-related work we help coordinate is within the medico-legal reporting and expert instruction context.

Yes. We can help solicitors progress from an initial GP medico-legal report to further specialist reporting where the case requires it. This may involve identifying a suitable specialist, coordinating appointments, supporting documentation exchange, arranging diagnostics where instructed, or helping with treatment referrals within the medico-legal case pathway.

Yes. Where instructed as part of a medico-legal case, we can help coordinate diagnostic arrangements such as MRI scans, X-rays, ultrasound, and nerve studies. Diagnostics are not offered as a general public healthcare service through the website. They are arranged in connection with appropriate medico-legal instructions and expert requirements.

Yes, we can help coordinate treatment referrals where they are connected to a medico-legal case and where we are specifically instructed to do so. This may include referrals for physiotherapy, pain management, psychological support, specialist consultation, or surgery-related review. We do not present treatment referrals as a standalone public treatment service.

Yes. We help coordinate independent medical assessments through suitable medical experts. These assessments may be face to face, remote, video based, telephone based, or records based, depending on the case, expert suitability, instruction requirements, and available evidence. We do not promise that any one format will be suitable for every matter.

We help arrange court-ready medico-legal reports and CPR Part 35 reports through independent experts where the instruction requires this. The expert is responsible for the content and opinion in the report. Our role is to support the administrative process, ensure the correct documents are handled, monitor deadlines, and coordinate the report dispatch process.

We check administrative and procedural matters before report dispatch, such as document completeness, formatting, correct records, deadlines, and general administrative accuracy. We do not edit, shape, or influence the expert’s clinical opinion. The independence of the medical expert remains central to the medico-legal process.

We operate with strong attention to confidentiality, GDPR, data-protection obligations, consent frameworks, and secure handling practices. We are ICO registered and maintain internal processes designed to support compliant medico-legal administration. Our team also receives regular training on data-security practices so sensitive information is handled with appropriate care.

We work with independent medical experts who are expected to meet appropriate professional standards, including active professional registration where relevant, such as GMC or HCPC registration, suitable medical indemnity insurance, clinical standing, and medico-legal or expert witness experience. The exact requirements may vary depending on the specialty and instruction.

HKO started five years ago with one expert and has grown to a network of more than 80 medical experts across different specialties. Many experts have joined through colleague recommendations, which reflects the professional relationships and trust developed within our medico-legal network.

We operate as an elite intermediary and specialist administrative partner with a strong medical-secretary-style role. Our focus is on direct, efficient coordination between solicitors, doctors, and the required administrative process. We help reduce unnecessary layers, improve communication, manage report-flow tasks, and provide strong administrative control while preserving the independence of the medical expert.

Yes. Solicitors can instruct directly through HKO where suitable. This direct route helps us manage expert matching, communication, booking, document flow, and report coordination with fewer unnecessary delays. We are especially focused on supporting claimant solicitors who need a professional, responsive, and well-managed medico-legal reporting process.

No. For claimant-related medico-legal work, we accept instructions from the claimant’s legal representatives. Claimants are part of the case process, but our website and service route are designed for solicitors and doctors, not direct public or patient instructions.

Our current public website focus is claimant-side solicitor instructions and doctor support. The website should not be read as an open defendant-side, insurer-side, or public instruction route unless this is agreed separately. If your matter has a specific instruction requirement, you can contact us and we will confirm whether it falls within our remit.

Yes. We can help solicitors arrange suitable medico-legal expert input for personal injury matters, including road traffic accidents, slips, trips and falls, accidents at work, workplace injury, and related injury claims. The exact expert will depend on the injury, medical issue, location, evidence, and reporting requirements.

Yes. We can help coordinate medico-legal expert input for clinical negligence and medical negligence matters where an independent medical opinion is required. These cases often require careful expert selection, relevant records, clear instructions, and strong administrative coordination. We support the process around the expert’s work while the clinical opinion remains independent.

Yes, where a solicitor-led medico-legal report is required, GP medico-legal experts or relevant specialists may be suitable for housing disrepair or damp-property medical issues. The correct expert will depend on the symptoms, evidence, case details, and reporting purpose. We can review the enquiry and help identify the appropriate route.

Yes, where the case requires it, we can help coordinate appropriate expert input for gynaecology, pregnancy-related negligence, birth injury, or related medico-legal matters. These instructions often require careful specialist selection and suitable records. We manage the administrative coordination while the expert provides the independent opinion.

Yes. We can help arrange expert input for spinal matters, including spinal injury, whiplash-related symptoms, sciatica, nerve damage, degenerative spinal disorders, spinal trauma, and related medico-legal issues. Depending on the case, the suitable expert may be a spinal specialist, Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon, Neurosurgeon, Neurologist, or another appropriate expert.

Yes. We can help coordinate reports from Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeons and related orthopaedic specialists. Orthopaedic matching may depend on the exact area involved, such as hip, knee, shoulder, elbow, hand and wrist, foot and ankle, upper limb, lower limb, trauma, complex fractures, paediatric orthopaedics, or spinal orthopaedics.

Yes. We can help coordinate expert input from Psychiatry and Psychology specialists where the case requires mental health, psychological injury, trauma-related, capacity-related, or rehabilitation-related assessment. Remote or video consultation may be suitable in some matters, but this depends on the expert, evidence, instruction requirements, and case suitability.

Remote consultations, video appointments, telephone consultations, and records-based reviews may be possible in some cases. Suitability is always assessed case by case and depends on the expert, specialty, injury or medical issue, instruction requirements, evidence available, and whether the assessment format is appropriate for the report purpose.

We provide medical-secretary-style administrative support for doctors involved in medico-legal work. This can include diary coordination, clinic management, correspondence, document handling, appointment scheduling, report-flow administration, and communication with solicitors or agencies. Our aim is to help doctors manage their medico-legal workload efficiently without losing administrative control.

Yes. We can support doctors with clinic administration, diary management, booking coordination, rescheduling, appointment letters, correspondence, and related medico-legal workflow. This support is designed for doctors who want a specialist administrative team to manage the practical demands around expert witness and medico-legal reporting work.

Yes. Doctors with suitable clinical standing, professional registration, indemnity, and medico-legal or expert witness experience can enquire about working with HKO. We are interested in experts who can support high-quality medico-legal work and who value professional administrative coordination, clear communication, and a structured reporting process.

Doctors working with HKO can benefit from administrative coordination, communication support, clinic and diary management, documentation handling, report-flow support, and access to a wider expert network. We may also support workflow improvement through process streamlining, trend awareness, and performance-related administrative insights where relevant.

No. We do not influence, edit, or shape any medical opinion. The expert’s opinion must remain independent. Our involvement is administrative and procedural, covering areas such as communication, documentation, appointments, formatting, deadlines, and report-flow management.

The Find an Expert feature is intended to help solicitors search for or enquire about suitable experts through HKO. Public expert information may include professional details where approved, but sensitive private information is not automatically published. The safer route is that enquiries and instructions go through HKO, with expert details handled appropriately and only shown where authorised.

You should send the key case details, medical issue, records position, urgency, location, and any preferred expert type through our enquiry route. Complex cases often require careful specialist selection, and we can help identify whether a broad specialty or narrower sub-specialty is likely to be more suitable. We will review the practical requirements before confirming the next steps.

Our usual role ends at report dispatch unless we are specifically instructed to assist further. If the solicitor later requires addendum work, diagnostics, treatment referrals, further specialist input, or additional administrative coordination, we can consider this as a further instruction. We do not act beyond the instructions we receive.

You can contact us with the case type, medical issue or injury details, claimant location, deadline or urgency, relevant records position, and instruction letter where available. We will review the enquiry, consider suitable expert options, confirm the practical route, and guide the administrative process from there.