Amendments to the Civil Procedure Rules 1998
5. In rule 35.4, after paragraph (3A) insert—
“(3B) In a soft tissue injury claim, permission—
(a)may normally only be given for one expert medical report;
(b)may not be given initially unless the medical report is a fixed cost medical report. Where the claimant seeks permission to obtain a further medical report, if the report is from a medical expert in any of the following disciplines—
(i)Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon;
(ii)Consultant in Accident and Emergency Medicine;
(iii)General Practitioner registered with the General Medical Council; or
(iv)Physiotherapist registered with the Health and Care Professions Council,
the report must be a fixed cost medical report.
(3C) In this rule, ‘fixed cost medical report’ and ‘soft tissue injury claim’ have the same meaning as in paragraph 1.1(10A) and (16A), respectively, of the RTA Protocol.”.