Expertise
Areas of expertise
Dr Simpson accepts instructions on all pain-related matters, in personal injury and clinical negligence claims.
Conditions and issues
Chronic pain conditions
- Primary and secondary chronic pain
- Chronic widespread pain
- Spinal pain, including whiplash injury
- Headache and facial pain
- Neuropathic pain
- Complex Regional Pain Syndrome
Pain after injury or surgery
- Post-traumatic pain
- Post-amputation pain
- Brachial plexus injury
- Post-surgical pain, for example after breast, abdominal, pelvic, joint and spinal surgery, hernia repair and vasectomy
Complications of pain treatment
- Adverse effects of pain medications
- Opioid over-prescribing
- Complications of peripheral nerve blocks, such as brachial plexus blocks
- Complications of spinal procedures: epidural, spinal, caudal, nerve root and facet injections
Neuromodulation
- Spinal cord stimulation
- Spinal drug delivery, including intrathecal pump implants
- Complications of these treatments
Medico-legal experience
Dr Simpson has been involved in medico-legal practice for about 35 years. She prepares around 250 reports and joint statements a year, in personal injury and clinical negligence claims in the UK and Ireland.
Her early expert work was mainly in personal injury. She is now regularly instructed in complex, high-value clinical negligence claims. She has also given expert evidence to the GMC on fitness to practise, and in criminal cases.
She accepts instructions from claimants and defendants, and as a single joint expert.
She has given oral evidence on more than 35 occasions in the UK and Ireland, including in the Royal Courts of Justice in London and Belfast and the Four Courts in Dublin, and judges have commented favourably on the quality of her evidence in their judgments.
Training and compliance
Dr Simpson’s reports comply with CPR Part 35, Practice Direction 35 and the CJC Guidance for the Instruction of Experts in Civil Claims. She is experienced in answering Part 35 questions, attending conferences with counsel and preparing joint statements after experts’ meetings.
- Certified Fellow of the Expert Witness Institute, FEWI (Cert); assessor for EWI certification since 2022
- Cardiff University Bond Solon Civil Expert Certificate
- Training in report writing, cross-examination and courtroom skills
- Trained in root cause analysis; assessor of critical incidents at Leeds Teaching Hospitals for 10 years
- Registered with the GMC with a licence to practise; revalidated, with annual appraisal
She keeps her medico-legal practice up to date through regular CPD, including the Expert Witness Institute national conferences, and is listed in the UK Register of Expert Witnesses and with the National Expert Witness Agency.