John* had his spine crushed when he was runover by an uninsured driver, causing a spinal cord injury meaning he wouldn’t be able to walk again. We got John over £8m in compensation in a claim through the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB) – an independent body set up to pay compensation where there’s no other route to make a claim and is funded from insurance premiums.
The challenges faced by John
We spoke to John quite soon after his injuries and he was about to be sent home from hospital to a house that hadn’t been adapted for him, and without anyone coming in to care for him despite his complex needs because of his spinal cord injury.
- The MIB said they wouldn’t take responsibility for John’s injuries for quite some time, which meant that at first, they wouldn’t agree to fund any of the support John needed.
- John’s family were feeling stressed and anxious about the situation and what help they could get.
How we helped with these challenges
Because initially the MIB wouldn’t agree to funding treatment, we used our emergency fund to pay for support from an occupational therapist, who made sure John had things in place so that he was safe when he left the hospital. They also looked into services John could use through the NHS and social care, so that everything wasn’t just left to his family.
- We made referrals to John’s local health and social care team to make sure he had access to physiotherapy, community care and specialist equipment.
- We worked with the MIB until they agreed they were responsible, and then got them to fund extensive support and rehabilitation for John and his family.
The results and outcome
After the MIB agreed to pay for support for John, we helped the family to move to a rented home that had some adaptations and a specialist wash pod installed so John could be as independent as possible. We also involved a case manager who arranged for lots of private rehabilitation input before the case had settled.
- Moving house meant John also had an outside, covered space, which allowed him to continue with his pre-injury interest in working on cars.
- We also arranged for an intensive inpatient rehabilitation stay to improve John’s outcomes, as well as exoskeleton trials, referrals to a continence nurse, purchase of a specialist wheelchair, physiotherapy equipment and a driving assessment.
- The case settled for over £8m, which included funding for his lifelong treatment and care needs, as well as to pay for ongoing specialist equipment.
*not his real name
