Qualifications
MB BS LLM MRCGP FRCPsych MEWI MAE MIoD
Accreditation
Approved clinician status for the purposes of section 145(1)(including approval under section 12(2)) of the Mental Health Act 1983. Cardiff University accredited Expert Witness (Civil and Family). Medico-legal Expert Witness Certificate (Family) from City University and Inns of Court School of Law.
Memberships
British Association for Psychopharmacology, Expert Witness Institute, Academy of Experts, Society of Expert Witnesses, Institute of Directors & Royal Society of Medicine (Fellow).
Areas of expertise
Mental Illness, Personality Disorder, Alcohol and Drug Misuse.
Biography
I trained as a doctor at the Middlesex Hospital Medical School, University of London. I worked as a GP in Australia and did medicine and paediatrics in New Zealand. In the UK, I spent some years working in A & E, orthopaedics and ENT before I qualified as a general practitioner after training in Reading and Basingstoke.
I then trained as a psychiatrist in Basingstoke and Bristol and completed a master’s in mental health law in 2005. I have been in medico-legal practice for over 20 years and have been a consultant for 18 years. I am trained in report writing and court work and produce approximately 120 reports a year for the courts.
I spent over 10 years working in a community mental health team in the NHS, latterly combining this with rehabilitation psychiatry. I then worked in an Assertive Outreach Team and was instrumental in setting up a Community Acute Service (an Acute Day Hospital combined with a Crisis and Home Treatment Service), also in the NHS, both of which I worked in for almost 7 years. I then worked for a year in an Immigration Removal Centre treating doing psychiatry and treating addictions.
I have a special interest in occupational health psychiatry and have consulted for the local Occupational Health Department throughout my consultant career until the present day; for a couple of years, this was also a regular sessional commitment.
I keep up to date in psychiatry and expert work through Continuing Professional Development and am in good standing with regard to appraisals and am due to take part in revalidation in 2013. I also do work for the Royal College of Psychiatrists, Medical Justice and the Royal Medical Benevolent Fund. I have given guest lectures at Bucks New and Oxford Brookes Universities and act as a mentor for doctors. I frequently have psychology students shadowing my work. I have published a number of papers as well as my LLM dissertation and a book; please see below for details.
I specialise in family work and provide reports primarily in public law cases per year. Much of my work concerns people with drug and alcohol problems. I also see people whose main problems are mental illness or personality disorder. I appear in court regularly, mainly in public law cases.
I also prepare reports in personal injury cases. Though most of my work has been for claimants, I am very open to working for any party or as a Single Joint Expert. The diagnoses most often encountered in these cases are Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Depression, Specific Phobia, and Adjustment Disorder.
I also see a number of people for reports in criminal cases, including where sexual offending plays a role. I have undertaken a number of cases for Customs and Excise and the Crown Prosecution Service, including alleged rapes and murders. I see people before Employment and Housing Tribunals with alleged work related conditions, including where bullying is alleged. I also provide reports for Occupational Health Physicians, Insurance Companies and in clinical negligence cases where a psychiatric condition is at issue.